Angel
by Yellow Mask
Summary: Now Complete! Set in the mangaverse, post chapter 55. The year of her seventeenth birthday will bring more surprises than Winry can possibly imagine...EdxWin, Royai.
1. March 21st, 1916

**Angel**

**By Yellow Mask**

**Spoilers:** Anything up to Chapter 55.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist

**Chapter 1**

**March 21st **

_AN: I haven't found any official source for Winry's birthday, so I just made it up. Don't take my dates as gospel. AS previously stated, despite my recent slew of anime-based stories, this one is set in the manga. While it may seem of little consequence now, there are some differences between manga and anime that are important later.  
_

**oooooooo**

_March 21st – Rockbell House, Risembool_

"It's my birthday!" Winry crowed, throwing her arms around Den.

She'd thought today was special when she awoke, but couldn't remember why. Then, as she'd been running fingers through her sleep-tangled hair, it had hit her.

She'd had a small celebration with Garfiel and Paninya, then hopped on the first train to Risembool, planning on spending her birthday with her grandmother and some of her older friends. When she arrived though, the house had been empty, save for Den. Pinako had probably forgotten something, and been forced to walk to the markets to buy it.

Winry knew the house wouldn't be empty for long. It was her seventeenth birthday, and not only was she going to spend the day with her grandmother, but the Elric brothers as well. Ed and Al had promised they would try to come down for the celebration. So Winry had been walking on clouds for most of the morning.

But then she checked the mailbox. She found a letter there, addressed to the shop, and stamped with the official seal of the military. Feeling her heart sink, she opened it.

It wasn't like she hadn't – in some secret corner of her heart – expected this. It wasn't like she wasn't used to being cast aside in lieu of some new alchemy technique…but it still hurt.

Still, she was determined to have a good time anyway. Indulging her hurt and anger, Winry crumpled the letter and threw it in the trash, feeling better as she did so. Den nuzzled her leg and she bent to hug him.

"You'll never abandon me, will you?" she whispered, burying her face in his dark fur.

Den whuffed, and Winry laughed. "I love you, boy," she crooned, rubbing his ears.

Feeling decidedly more cheerful than when she first read the letter, Winry hummed as she washed the dishes, already planning how to spend her day. She'd go to see Nelly, maybe have some of the girl's delicious caramel tart. She might pay a visit to Laura. And she'd have to call on Tanya and Kim. Then she'd come back, and work on a new automail design. On her birthday, Winry was allowed free reign on her creativity. As Pinako's annual gift, she gave Winry command of any raw materials she wished for, heedless of expense or amount.

Yes, it was going to be a good day, even if Ed and Al weren't coming.

**oooooooo**

_March 21st – Roy Mustang's Office, Central_

A loud explosion of cursing signalled the arrival of another report on the Colonel's desk.

"Hawkeye..." Roy whined, picking it up.

A stern glare silenced him. Riza tapped her finger against the paper pointedly. "It's important, sir. A report on James Mangeli."

In an instant, Roy was all business.

James Mangeli. The Black Soul Alchemist. And now, a loose cannon loaded with a whole keg of powder. Dangerous with a capital 'D'.

By all accounts, he'd been a genius when he first entered the military. Impeccable behavior, incredible talent...a veritable 'golden boy'. But then he'd started working with Shou Tucker. Tucker had been obsessed with perfecting the chimeras, Mangeli had been obsessed with their potential as weapons. He'd attempted to merge ever-more dangerous animals, trying to achieve a chimera with the traits that _he_ designated, not simply a random amalgamation of physical attributes.

But when he started asking for people – real, live humans – to volunteer for his experiments, the military drew the line. They warned him off, threatening to end his career.

Mangeli did it anyway. His first human-animal chimera merged an ape with a fourteen year old boy he had kidnapped from a park.

Predictably, the military went berserk, sentencing Mangeli to death by firing squad. The trouble was, he escaped. A small force pursued him, and Mangeli was reported to have run himself off a cliff in an attempt to evade them. Though no body was ever recovered, he was listed as officially dead.

Though recently, it had become abundantly clear that the report had been premature. Where he had been hiding himself, no one knew, but the Black Soul Alchemist had emerged from hiding to strike the small fringe village at the Umar Foothills, abducting nearly half the town's population.

The popular theory was that Mangeli was continuing his experiments, and he'd captured those people for use as lab rats. A theory backed by the fact that all those taken were in the prime of their life; mid-teens to late-twenties, all fit and healthy. Prime specimens for his twisted science.

Even more disturbing, was the remaining townsfolk's descriptions of his minions, the creatures called 'Revenants'. No alchemist could hear of them and doubt they were chimeras – the people spoke of humans warped almost beyond recognition. Some with claws like a tiger's, some with fur like a wolf's, some with jaws that looked as though they had been snatched from alligators.

Mangeli's experiments had obviously been continued. Continued and honed. The survivors claimed that these creatures obeyed him without reason, without thought to their own survival or well-being. Apparently, he'd been brushing upon the brainwashing techniques as well.

Roy scanned the report. Another town on the outskirts of Amestris had suffered a raid. He felt a chill at the prospect of what Mangeli must be doing to his victims, if he needed so many, so soon.

One thing was certain, these weren't your average chimera experiments.

**oooooooo**

_March 21st – Location Unknown_

James Mangeli sighed as he gestured at his Revenants, ordering the disposal of another failed experiment. He had expected a high failure rate, knowing that most people would not be strong enough to survive the transmutation – even if they were in the prime of their lives...but he had not expected just how high the failure rate would actually be.

He had twenty Revenants. Just twenty, out of a total of two hundred and thirteen experiments. Overall, his success rate was less than ten percent.

He needed more. He needed somewhere with a healthy population, not enough to present a problem, but enough so he could take a more abundant crop of fresh specimens into his lab.

Almost lazily, he dragged a map towards him, his eyes flickering across the paper. He smiled. On the outskirts, a stable population of slightly over three hundred.

Perfect.

Risembool it was.


	2. Date Unknown, Alpha

**Chapter 2**

**Date Unknown**

_Date Unknown – Location Unknown_

The girl known only as Subject Delta passed her time in a tiny cell. There were other cells nearby, but they were empty. Not that she could see into them, but the complete lack of any sound – not even the hiss of another's breathing – told her that she was alone. Sometimes, a man would come by and give her water, and a bowl of tasteless grey mush. It wasn't pleasant to consume, but there was nothing else to eat, and she had to make do with what she had.

Once, she might have been angry. But now she accepted her situation.

She had no idea who she was. She certainly didn't think of herself as Subject Delta, but that was what the man called her. Still, she couldn't quite accept it – it sounded wrong.

But the life she lived did not require her to have a name, it only required her, she supposed, to stay in her cell, and eat and drink when such things were offered. In a way, she was grateful for this life, it had been worse before.

Much, much worse.

When she had first woken up, she had been terrified. She had been lying in her own blood, completely naked, the bitter taste of fear coating the back of her throat. Every muscle had ached, her skin prickling like white-hot knives were running across it, and her head pounding as though a hammer were rebounding off the sides of her skull.

Her back had been burning as though someone set fire to it, and when she reached back to try and discern her injury, she had felt the blood.

Then she had felt the feathers.

They had started as nubs at first, bristles of developing pinions on the curve of her shoulder blades. Feathers and tendons, muscles and bone that grew slowly outward and downward and upward. And that ripped, tore and twisted her body as they progressed. Shredding skin, bursting muscle, knotting nerves and ligaments, warping her very bones in their quest for maturity.

Now, two wings stretched out behind her. Feathered like a bird's, she judged that her wingspan would probably be twice her height.

Not that she could stretch them that far. The cell was too small, just enough room for a toilet in the corner and barely enough space to lie down when she slept at night.

At least, she assumed it was night. The fluorescent lights overhead were painfully bright, but never dimmed. The harsh shadows the bars of her cell threw on the floor never shifted, curving around her body like the stripes on a tiger.

Delta shifted, stretching her wings and making the feathers rustle. They still felt strange, an uncomfortable tug on the skin of her back, where the feathers melt seamlessly into skin, joined from shoulder to past her hip. Strangely, she doesn't question how the ugly wounds her growing wings caused came to be healed so swiftly and so completely. Not even the stretch and pull of scar tissue.

Sometimes, she wondered who she had been. She had no idea of course, but she could try to remember. All too rarely, fragments of memory would surface amidst the sea of nothingness, like flecks of gold in granite. Tastes, smells, blurred visions that vanished before they coalesced into anything she could interpret, snatches of conversation.

_The smell of corn, torn ripe from the plant._

_The tang of lemon juice on her tongue._

_A flash of bright gold in front of her._

And, far more puzzling, a voice. A voice that reverberated within her very soul, genderless, ageless.

"_...become my warrior, my messenger...my angel."_

**oooooooo**

_Date Unknown – Location Unknown_

A harsh clang woke Delta from her sleep. She heard footsteps approach her cell, and tensed instinctively. It was reflex that had never faded, even though no one had done anything to harm her. Perhaps they had...Before.

Before. That black chasm within which anything was possible. The yawning blank in her memory, her mind devoid of any recollection of her life until she regained consciousness in the cell. Before...it could have been anything. A forgotten paradise, or a thankfully-ended nightmare? It didn't matter, either way. The Before was gone, perhaps never to be found again.

The man opened the door to her cell, and Delta didn't so much as twitch when his feet stopped right beside her head, almost treading on her long hair. She didn't care that she was naked, or that she hungry. After all, better to simply accept her situation and avoid pain. She wasn't sure where that thought came from, but she was certain pain came from resistance, some dim memory telling her she had fought them in the Before, and been punished dreadfully for it.

Her eyes rose, and even though she had known that this man's presence caused primal, unreasoning terror to grip her, it's intensity always startled her.

He didn't even look very intimidating. He was tall, but not frighteningly so. His hair had probably once been black, but was now greying heavily, giving it a salt-and-pepper appearance. Green eyes examined her coldly, as though she were little more than an animal.

A tape recorder was held in his hand, and he lifted it to his mouth, a sharp click telling Delta it had been turned on.

"Subject Delta appears fully recovered, apart from lethargy and apparent disinterest in her environment. Her wings seem to be fully developed, and the injuries they caused healed remarkably quickly."

Delta realised he was studying her. Observing her and recording his observations by way of the tape. Somehow, she knew she would have been angry once, but just could not bring herself to care.

"It is also interesting to note her hair grew back, to what my records show was it's original length. All scars and evidence of past injuries appear to have vanished also. Though there is no alteration to her musculature, it has been evidenced by Subject Omega that the alchemically gifted strength need not alter the original physique, as it is metaphysical in origin."

_'Oh, do shut up,'_ Delta though bitterly. _'I want to sleep!'_

"I do not detect the presence of daemon's essence, but I presume it is simply lying dormant."

_'What the hell is he talking about?'_ Delta wondered.

He shut off the tape recorder with another click. He strode once around her, his boots finally coming to a stop just in front of her eyes.

"Stand up," he ordered.

_'Fuck you,'_ Delta thought, not knowing where her sudden spark of defiance came from.

"Subject Delta, I ordered you to stand up!" he repeated when she didn't move.

_'Why the hell does this guy think I feel any incentive to obey him?'_

Delta took a deep breath, then said, quite clearly and quite calmly, "Go fuck yourself."

The man's expression was a study in shock. He backed out of the cell hastily, walking away, switching on his tape recorder as he did so.

"It appears the daemon essence did not anchor in Subject Delta, but I can only guess at how she survived the transmutation without it's interference..."

His voice faded down the corridor, and he was gone. Delta sighed, and closed her eyes.

Perhaps she would dream of Before.


	3. Date Unknown, Beta

**Chapter 3**

**Date Unknown**

_Date Unknown – Location Unknown_

Delta came awake with a start. Someone was outside her cell, opening the door. Several someones, in fact.

The man was there, along with two of his...creatures.

Delta could easily recognise the animals they had been fused with. The woman on the man's left had obviously been merged with some sort of octopus or squid. Her skin was pale and rubbery, her head grossly bloated, with long tentacles sprouting from the skin around her mouth and hanging around her knees.

The man beside her appeared part ape. He was covered with a thick coat of grey hair, his arms elongated to reach his knees, his face flattened and broadened.

Both pairs of eyes were as blank as the walls of her cell, and Delta couldn't contain her shudder. They were completely mindless – human beings reduced to living puppets...

"Subjects Psi and Beta, take Subject Delta to the examination room," he ordered, waving his hand at Delta almost casually.

And Delta was instantly tense, the words 'examination room' unlocking a sudden burst of memories, like a geyser.

_The cold, clinical smell of disinfectant. A grim portent of her future._

_The feel of chilled metal warming against the skin of her wrists and ankles. Fighting the bonds, feeling a burst of pain when they cut into her flesh._

_The sound of her own yells reverberating off the walls. Not screams, she wasn't in pain...it was anger...anger and fear._

He was muttering to himself now, and Delta's mind was dragged back to the present just long enough to hear him say, "And I may need to perform the transmutation once more. The daemon didn't take..."

And if she thought the slew of memories from the previous phrase was confusing, it was nothing compared to what bombarded her now.

_Lying paralysed, pinned by harsh restraints, body swimming with lethargy._

_The metallic smell of blood searing her nostrils, burning into her brain._

_The world going white before her eyes, agony tearing through her body, terror consuming her. Her whole existence narrowing, becoming nothing but pain and fear. Fear and pain. _

_The skin on her back burning, and the blackness before her becoming utterly complete._

Instinct took over.

Adrenaline surged through Delta's veins, and as the cell door opened, instead of being docile and compliant, she leapt for the man leading the creatures inside.

She bowled him over almost instantly, and they went down in a tangle of limbs and feathers. Delta's wings spread wide, knocking the creatures away from her. They hit the walls so hard they dented the metal, and Delta felt a momentary flash of surprise at her strength.

The man grabbed at her wings, gripping them tightly in his fists and appeared to be concentrating. But nothing happened, and Delta knocked him aside, struggling upright and tearing out the open door.

"Subject Beta!" The words were barked.

The 'squid-woman', obviously Subject Beta, regained her feet and a jet of ink shot from the midst of her tentacles. Delta threw herself to the side, and the slippery substance hit the wall instead.

'Ape-man', probably Subject Psi, lunged for her, his arms open as though he were trying to crush her in a bear hug. Delta tried to dodge, but he was too quick, and managed to seize her forearm. He tried to yank her back into the cell, his movement so violent her shoulder nearly dislocated.

But the touch of a brutal hand on her arm awakened something primal within her.

Hardly recognising the scream that tore from her throat, Delta whirled. Hardly knowing what she was doing, she brought her fist up, and swung it towards Subject Psi...

And a tornado of white fire burst from her clenched fist, impacting Subject Psi and throwing him across the room, blasting him _through_ the wall of the cell.

The man was gaping at her, and Delta could understand his confusion. What had she done?

Subject Beta went for her again, and another burst of white fire sent her to her knees. The man tried to snatch at her wings a second time, but Delta was ready for him. Another rush of white fire.

The man screamed as he was sent flying backwards, and Delta was startled to realise his skin seemed to be boiling. It was stretching and bubbling like rubber, slackening like ice cream melting in the sun.

Strangely, she felt a small burst of pity, which was quickly overwhelmed with anger. He had done this to her! And if he reaped the fruits of his torture, so be it!

Her hand rose, preparing to deliver a blow she knew would be fatal, when memory seared across her mind.

_Golden eyes locked to hers, wide and pleading._

_Hands on her palm, one warm, one strangely hard and cool._

_A voice, soft and reverent, "You're hands are not those that kill people...they're hands that let people live."_

Delta's hand stuttered in mid-air. She stared down at the man who had caused her so much pain, and found she couldn't bring herself to deliver the killing blow.

She couldn't let down that stranger from Before, the one with golden eyes who had told her she wasn't a killer.

But the man took advantage of her distraction, leaping up and away from her. Delta realised, with a start, that his skin looked perfectly normal once more. How had he managed to heal in so short a time?

Just looking at the fear on his face made the rage well up in her again. _'I am what you made me, aren't you pleased? But no, you wanted something less powerful, something you could control. But I will never be controlled again!'_

She realised she was trembling with the force of her anger, that the white fire had spread from her fists to envelop her entire body, swirling flames licking at her skin without burning. Delta stared down at herself – her naked body was beginning to change, pale skin turning hard and shiny.

Metal. Her whole body was turning to metal! She felt the stirrings of panic – what was happening to her? What had they done to her?

Rage and despair merged, the realisation that, whatever she may have been Before, there was truly no going back. The man in front of her had stolen her life.

Delta threw back her head and screamed.

She barely registered the man and his creatures running away, she was so consumed in her own grief. Grief for what might have been, and what could never be, now. She didn't even know what she was grieving for – they had even taken that from her! They had desecrated her body, twisted her mind, and stolen her memories.

The white fire wreathing her body exploded outwards, demolishing walls and ceiling in it's wake. Her scream swelled to a roar, chunks of rock and metal raining down on her as the cell exploded.

**oooooooo**

_Date Unknown – Location Unknown_

When she came to herself, Delta was surprised at the level of utter destruction she'd managed to wreak. The man was gone, as was his creatures. Probably run off, convinced she'd been about to bring the whole place down around their ears.

She looked down at herself again. The metal was gone, soft white flesh replacing it. The white fire had vanished with it. Delta's mind was screaming with questions, but she shoved them ruthlessly down. She had to get out of this place first.

The corridor was completely blank on both sides, giving no indication of any exit. Delta went left, the cold metal numbing her feet, the chilled air making goosebumps rise on her body. The corridor turned a corner, and here the back walls of the cells were marked with numbers, daubed on the metal with black paint.

Gradually, she became aware of voices ahead of her. Her muscles tensed instinctively.

But the voices weren't hostile. They came from the people in the cells, staring out at her with undisguised terror. All were young, healthy...and looking at her with a sort of horrified awe, as though they were drawn to her and at the same time repelled by what they saw.

Delta fought the urge to cross her arms in front of her, to conceal her body. They were all naked here, so what was the point of modesty?

She walked to the first cell, and the occupants cringed away, huddling on the opposite wall like frightened mice. She ignored them, grasped the bars in her hands, took a deep breath, and _pulled_.

The steel bent like soft butter, and she felt a bubble of frustration. She could have escaped from her cell at any point, if she'd only realised her strength before this!

The people in the cell simply stared, as though hardly daring to believe that she was helping them escape. Delta moved to the next cell, once more bending the bars aside so the occupants could get out. She kept doing it, moving from cell to cell, a small crowd of the freed prisoners slowly gathering behind her.

When she got to the last cell, she stopped, stepped inside, brow furrowed as she tried to determine what had captured her attention. It seemed familiar, from the scratches on the bars to the large black '15' on the back wall. Had she been kept here, Before?

As she approached the painted numbers, her chest tightened. There were marks in the paint, as though someone had scraped it from the metal. As she drew closer, she saw that the scratches were actually words.

Reading them, a feeling of deja vu rose within Delta. With her throat almost closed by the lump in it, she raised her right index finger, and laid it over the scratches.

The marks were the exact width of her fingernail.

Delta stumbled away so quickly she nearly tripped, all but running from the cell, her mind churning, running over the words etched into the paint.

_W.R. – 1916_

_D.O.B – 21 Mar 1899_

_I will not give in, I will not become his puppet._

_I refuse to die here._

**oooooooo**

_AN: Not 100 happy with this chapter, re-read it over and over again, and it just doesn't seem to click. Oh, well, I posted anyway. This may seem very confusing, but it's meant to be. Things will clear up later, maybe a very long while later, but things **will** clear up._


	4. March 25th to April 6th

**Chapter 4**

**March 25th – April 6th **

_March 25th – Military Headquarters, Central_

Riza stopped Ed on the way back to his room, having just given a report to Mustang.

"Ed, there's something you need to hear."

"Will it take long?" Ed sighed, "Al's waiting for me."

Riza let out a shuddering breath. How to tell him? "Have you heard of the Black Soul Alchemist?"

"Well, yeah," Ed looked puzzled. "Isn't he the one doing those illegal chimera experiments?"

"Did you know he was attacking border towns and abducting some of the people there to use in his experiments?"

Looking aghast, Ed shook his head.

"Ed..." Riza said softly, placing one hand on his shoulder. "He attacked Risembool. Four days ago."

The blood drained from Ed's face, and the alchemist seemed to reel in shock.

"Winry…she said she would...for her birthday..." he breathed. "She said she would...would go see Granny..."

He looked directly at Riza, and the fire in Ed's eyes surprised the older woman. "What happened?"

"Some people were killed," Riza said at last. "Not many though. Mangeli kidnaps and tortures, he doesn't outright murder. But Ed, you have to know, the town was cleared of almost everyone between the ages of fourteen and thirty..."

"Winry?" Ed choked out. "Granny?"

"Pinako's in the hospital, still unconscious, recovering from her injuries. She was probably wounded when she...when she tried to stop them taking Winry."

The bottom dropped out of Ed's stomach, his eyes widening as the horrors of Lab Five floated to the surface of his mind. He tried to ask Riza what happened to her but couldn't make a sound, as though his vocal chords had seized up.

_'Please, not Winry…'_

It was several moments before he managed to grit out, "S-so…w-what happened to her?"

Riza's eyes were full of regret and sympathy. "We don't know – we still haven't found Mangeli's main laboratory, and that's where he takes his prisoners. To be included in his experiments." There was no point in sugar-coating it.

Ed's entire body went numb. His legs folded beneath him and he sank to the floor, tears falling down his cheeks to darken the wood beneath him in tiny pools. Winry…Winry in a chimera laboratory. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the images assaulting his brain.

Winry, glaring at him and bellowing about taking care of his automail and writing them once in a while. Winry, face set with determination as she prepared to deliver a baby and save two lives. Winry, tears brimming in her eyes as she pointed the gun at Scar, desperately seeking justice for her parent's death. Winry, just after he'd promised to make her cry tears of joy, giving a smile so bright it put the sun to shame.

Had he lost that – lost _her_ – forever?

Ed remembered Nina, remembered seeing the once-human mind in the chimera's blank face. Would it be like that with Winry, too? Would he look into a monster's eyes and see Winry's soul behind them?

Then another, grimmer thought struck him. Was Winry still alive? Could she even survive the experiments?

He became aware that Riza still hadn't moved. He took a deep, shuddering breath and pushed himself to his feet, leaning against the wall as his legs shook. His entire body felt like a limp noodle, his mind hazy, as though it hadn't quite gripped what Riza had told him.

"Ed, are you alright?" Riza's voice was filled with sympathy and regret.

"Al." Ed's foggy brain managed to grasp that thought and hold it. "I have to tell Al."

Riza hid her concern at the blank, toneless way Ed spoke. He looked like someone in the beginning stages of shock; he barely glanced at Riza as he walked into the room he shared with his brother.

"Brother!" Al greeted him, then started. Ed had collapsed on the couch, staring blankly into space, seemingly unaware of the tears coursing down his cheeks. "Brother, what's wrong?"

"Al," he whispered hoarsely. "Al…it's Winry, she…"

He trailed off, silent for several moments.

"What? Brother, what happened to Winry?"

"Hawkeye told me…the Black Soul Alchemist attacked Risembool...while Winry was staying there…"

Al gave a great cry. "Winry? Granny?"

"Pinako…she...she's in the hospital. Hawkeye said that Winry…she was taken to a laboratory…they don't know where it is, but it's a chimera laboratory."

Ed closed his eyes against Al's stricken gasp and bowed his head, trying to stave off the sobs that were soon wracking his body. They remained that way for a long time, each locked in their own thoughts, in their own hellish imaginings. But Ed knew, no matter what had happened to them, no matter what they had seen in Lab Five, they couldn't conceive of the nightmare Winry was enduring.

**oooooooo**

_April 6th – Military Headquarters, Central_

"Ed? Are you in there?" Riza's words were accompanied by several sharp raps on the door.

Ed groaned, splashing water on his face to try and effect a semi-normal appearance. But realistically, he knew it was a lost cause. Ever since Riza had told him that Winry had been taken...he'd had nightmares. Repeatedly, frequently.

Nightmares of a twisted chimera raising it's face and looking at him with Winry's eyes. Of Winry coughing blood, her body warped and shattered, her eyes pleading with him to help her.

He'd had similar nightmares about Nina, about his mother...but this was different. Nina and his mother were over and done with. They were long past, and if a particularly horrific nightmare about them woke him from sleep, he was able to remind himself of that. It was over, and there was nothing he could do for them. A little depressing, yes, but it helped to dampen the terror.

Not so with Winry. Because he had no idea what had happened to her, or what might still be happening. That was what made those dreams so soul-shattering, for when he woke, he never knew if what he had just seen was truth or fiction.

About three days ago, he'd dreamed of the day he went back to Tucker's house to find Nina and Alexander transmuted into a chimera. Only this time, the chimera's eyes were the clear blue of a midsummer sky, and the pronunciation of his name was followed by a halting 'al-chem-y ge-ek'.

That one had woken him at about one o'clock in the morning, and he hadn't dared to go back to sleep. So he'd stayed on his bed for the rest of the night, sitting and staring, as though his eyes could pierce the curtain of darkness, as though the night held the secrets of Winry's location. And if he stared hard enough, long enough, it would surrender them.

"Ed?"

"I'm here," he rasped out.

"You requested news of any change in Pinako's condition?" Riza said, more like a statement than a question.

Ed nodded.

Pinako had been hospitalised with a badly lacerated abdomen and several cracked ribs. But once in the hospital, she had slipped into a coma. She had remained so for the past sixteen days, and though Ed and Al had visited her twice, her condition hadn't improved in the slightest.

"Well," Riza continued. "I have news. She just woke up."

**oooooooo**

_April 6th – Bluebell Hospital, Risembool_

"Granny!"

At Al's exuberant shout, Pinako looked up at the two figures in the doorway. Ed nearly winced at the the bruises on her face, but compared to a still form lying on the bed, barely breathing, this was a vast improvement.

"Ed, Al," the old woman's head tipped in acknowledgment, but her eyes were haunted.

Both brothers stepped into the room, sitting in the chairs beside Pinako's bed.

Ed wet his lips. "Granny-"

But Pinako interrupted him. "Have they found my granddaughter?"

Ed shook his head.

"Have they found the animal that took her?"

Another shake.

Pinako let out a gusty sigh, and for the first time that Ed could remember, she seemed truly old. "I remember so little about it...but I know that short-term memory loss is a side-affect of a coma..."

Her eyes were distant, looking through the wall rather than at it. "Everything's rather blurry, but I think it was Winry's birthday. Den started howling...people yelling...the door splintered." Pinako's brow was furrowing slightly as she sifted through the fragments of memory. "Something was in the house...something knocked me down..."

Pinako's next words tore at Ed's heart. "The last thing I remember is Winry screaming."


	5. May 16th to August 21st

**Chapter 5**

**May 16th – August 21st**

_May 16th – Military Headquarters, Central_

"Brother, you need to sleep sometime," Al admonished, somewhat sadly.

The table was chaotic, every file that so much as mentioned James Mangeli had been pulled apart and studied meticulously. Ed was hunched over the Black Soul Alchemist's own file, reading and re-reading it again and again. Searching for a clue, a hint as to where he was now.

Where Winry was now.

But Ed was having little success. So far, all the records had done was tell him – in great detail – about the exact nature of Mangeli's experiments. Each piece of information only fuelled his imagination and drove his worry and fear to greater heights.

Sometimes ignorance really was bliss. Ed couldn't help thinking he would have been a lot happier without knowing exactly what Mangeli did to his 'subjects'. The thought of Winry being used as a lab rat...

"Brother, you _do_ need to sleep," Al repeated, trying to cajole him into going to bed.

_'What's the point?'_ Ed thought dismally. _'Go to sleep to wake up a few hours later from a nightmare? Spend the rest of the night sitting up in bed and agonising over what might be happening to Winry?'_

"Brother?"

"Not now, Al. I promise I'll sleep, just not now."

**oooooooo**

_June 23rd – Military Headquarters, Central_

"Lieutenant."

"Sir."

A brief salute, a moment of acknowledgment as Riza passed the Fuhrer in the hallway. He stared levelly at her, and Riza fought the urge to squirm.

Riza liked to think of herself as coolly professional, but the Fuhrer unsettled her, and she couldn't quite figure out why.

It might have been because he was a homunculus, a monster in the most powerful position the military offered. It might have been the inexplicable transfer – she'd been his personal assistant for only three days before she was back under Mustang's command. Or it might have been the strange look in his eye whenever he saw her. She couldn't quite place it, somewhere between speculative and amused.

In layman's terms, he put her proverbial hackles up.

With a sigh, Riza shook the feeling off and stepped into Roy's office. "Any progress with Mangeli, sir?"

Roy sighed heavily. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It's almost ridiculous – he has to be somewhere! Yet for all the information we get, he might as well be invisible. It's like he doesn't even exist, except when he attacks these fringe towns. But as soon as he's taken enough people...poof! Back into the ether."

Riza could hear the exasperation in his voice. "How are the Elrics holding up?"

Another sigh, this one more despondent. "Not good. Mangeli attacked several other towns, which generally means he's killed all his previous prisoners. I tried to break it gently, but...it didn't go over well. Hardly a surprise."

"The Elrics have known Winry since they were children," Riza said, her voice surprisingly soft. "Al thinks of her as his sister. And Ed..."

Riza trailed off. The look Roy gave her said he was well aware whatever Winry was to Ed, it was a long way from a sister.

"Anyway, sir," Riza continued, trying to drag herself out of the depressing turn the conversation had taken. "I have these additional reports for you."

She handed the folder to him. Roy took it with a grateful look, and his fingers curled – almost accidentally – around the palm of her hand.

Riza could have sworn she felt the temperature in the room rise a few notches. Roy's ungloved hand was warm against her bare skin. And he wasn't removing it. On the contrary, his thumb was beginning to caress the back of her hand in a rather intimate gesture. Slowly, Riza raised her eyes to his, shocked by how intense his expression had become.

Her mouth suddenly dry, she managed to whisper, "Sir?"

And the spell broke. Roy dropped her hand, and his eyes fell to the papers in front of him. She tried to hide her disappointment.

Roy, for his part, wondered what had possessed him to seize Riza's hand like that. Admittedly, it had been an accident, but why hadn't he just let go? Hadn't he promised himself he would never act on his feelings? Hadn't he vowed he wouldn't ever pressure her for anything more than friendship?

_'Besides,'_ he thought wearily. _'It's not like she's in love with me.'_

Meanwhile, Riza was scolding herself. _'What did you expect? It's not like he's in love with you. It was a few seconds of contact – you're reading too much into it!'_

Riza sat at her desk,and they studiously avoided looking at each other for the rest of the day.

**oooooooo**

_July 2nd – Garfiel's Automail, Rush Valley_

Paninya traced the edges of the locket and tried to bite back tears.

"Happy Brithday," Garfiel smiled, but there were traces of sadness in his face. "I found that in Winry's room, with a note attached. _'For Paninya's birthday'_. She would have wanted me to give it to you."

The locket was small, and made of shining steel. Paninya had a sneaking suspicion Winry had made it herself. It was a simple oval shape, with a tiny catch on one side. Paninya flicked it open...and nearly sobbed aloud.

A picture was inside, a photo of her, Tommy, and Winry. The older man wore his trademark scowl, and Paninya's arms were wrapped around his neck. Winry was on the other side, making the 'rabbit ears' behind Paninya's head.

Etched into the opposite side of the locket were the words; _'Happy 17th Birthday, Paninya. Love from Winry.'_

Sniffing back tears, Paninya slipped the locket around her neck. The chain was delicate, but strong. Beautiful, but it was sturdy. Winry had known she wouldn't have wanted fragile, gaudy jewellry, and had made her a personal locket strong enough for her to take to work everyday. The knowledge of how much thought Winry must have put into her gift made her chest physically ache. Winry must have worked so hard...and she wasn't here to see her wearing it.

Paninya felt the metal beginning to warm from contact with her skin, and felt cheated. She'd known Winry for such a short time, and the young mechanic had already become one of the best friends she'd ever had.

And now she was gone

**oooooooo**

_July 7th – Rockbell Automail, Risembool_

Pinako sighed as she hung up the phone. Ed and Al had no information.

It had been over three months since the attack on Risembool, and there was still no sign of Winry. Not so much as a whisper of where she could be, or what could have happened to her.

After Winry had left for Rush Valley, Pinako could admit the house had seemed empty, but never so empty as it felt now. The photos on the shelves seemed to mock her, records of her granddaughter's life. Records that meant so little if she wasn't there to continue living it.

Looking around her home, Pinako felt very old. And very tired. She'd outlived her husband, she'd outlived her son and the woman he married – who she had regarded as a daughter. Winry had been the only member of her family left, and her spirited vivacity and stubbornness had easily lulled Pinako into believing that Winry would be the one to bury her.

But apparently, that had been a fool's hope. Pinako stared at the photo on the mantelpiece, stared at her granddaughter's sunny smile, and felt her absence like a physical blow.

She had lost the last of her family.

**oooooooo**

_August 21st – Military Headquarters, Central_

Five months. To the very day. Five months since Winry had been taken.

The nightmares were leaving, but Ed thought their absence scared him more than the actual dreams ever had. The lack of nightmares meant his mind was beginning to accept the situation, and accepting that Winry was gone was something Ed simply couldn't tolerate. He didn't want to get used to this, to this hollow ache in his chest every time he looked at his automail, every time he traced the battered casing. It wasn't in the best condition, he knew that. He knew that he should go for maintenance, at the very least.

But he couldn't.

_Winry_ was his mechanic. _She_ was the one who repaired his automail, and he didn't want to think of someone else taking her place – even if it was Granny Pinako.

And there was another, deeper reason.

His automail going untended meant that Winry had been the last to touch it. The last to braid the wires, to twist in the screws, to run investigative hands across it's surface. Sometimes, in the dead of night, he'd run his flesh hand over the metal casing, as though he could feel Winry through her creation.

It was his last, his _only_, connection to her, and didn't want anyone to sully it.

In the deepest recesses of his heart, he really hadn't minded wearing automail that Winry made. It always felt like he was carrying some part of her with him. And if he took it to another mechanic, they'd adjust, they'd tinker, they'd alter...until there was nothing left of Winry's work. It would be automail, but it would have none of _Winry_ in it.

Driven by a need he barely understood, Ed pulled his State Alchemist watch out of his pocket. He flipped it open, transmuting the index finger of his automail into a sharp point. Beneath his scrawl of _'Don't forget 3.Oct.11'_ he carved another.

_'21.Mar.16'_

Winry's seventeenth birthday. And the day she was taken.

Nearly half a year ago.

**oooooooo**

_AN: I know this chapter is probably incredibly depressing, but I figured I should show some of the reactions to Winry's absence, though I don't think I did the best job (and I couldn't resist sneaking in a Royai moment). And if anyone's wondering about Riza being transferred back to Mustang, it isn't just a cop-out to get out of writing her as the Fuhrer's personal assistant, it will have plot value in the later chapters._

_And as always, thanks to those who reviewed._


	6. August 23rd, Alpha

**Chapter 6**

**August 23rd**

_Date Unknown – Location Unknown_

"What's your name?"

Delta looked around. She had led the ragtag group of refugees through the white corridors, in search of an exit. They'd made a brief detour into a side room to collect clothes, and now everyone was wearing baggy, light green gowns. They looked suspiciously like hospital gowns.

Delta was probably rather lucky they laced up at the back, as she didn't see how she could have worn it otherwise. All the laces above her hips were open, allowing her wings to stretch behind her while still keeping the essentials covered.

The query had come from a young girl, about fourteen or so.

Delta shrugged. "He called me 'Subject Delta', but I don't think I like that name. Feels wrong."

A brown-eyed man stared at her. "Don't you know what your name is?"

"Nope," she shook her head, "I don't remember anything before I woke up in the cell." She was short, her tone impatient. She knew she probably sounded terse, but she couldn't help how uncomfortable she felt discussing the blank clouds that filled her mind where memories should have been.

"But you gotta have a name!" the girl insisted. "A really cool one, like one of those State Alchemists."

Unbidden, a memory flew from the depths of her mind. Half-formed and hazy...why did the phrase 'State Alchemist' make her think of metal?

"I don't know, I'd prefer a normal name. Something like 'Wilma', 'Wendy', 'Winny'…"

The girl looked outraged at the very thought. "People with super-powers can't have ordinary names!" She gazed admiringly at Delta's wings.

'_Like 'em, kid?'_ she thought, _'With all the pain they caused me, I'm glad someone does.'_

"How about; Wing Woman?"

Delta wrinkled her nose. "Thanks, but no thanks."

"Bird Girl?"

"Not really."

The girl's brow furrowed, and she thought for long moments. Then her eyes lit up. "How about…Angel."

Delta pondered it, rolling the sound around in her mind.

"_...become my warrior, my messenger...my angel."_

She nodded. "Angel…I like it."

"You're Angel from now on," the girl nodded decisively. "And I'm Michelle…this is my Mum, Sabah." She tugged a dark-eyed woman forward.

The newly-dubbed Angel smiled, beginning to relax. "Well, is everyone clothed?"

Murmurs of assent from the party.

"Then let's get the hell out of here."

**oooooooo**

_Date Unknown – Location Unknown_

Walking down another of the seemingly endless corridors, Angel was tempted to scream out loud. Where the hell was the way out? She tried to think logically.

_'If I were a mad scientist, where would I put the exit?'_

A sound cut through her bubble of concentration like a knife through warm butter. Someone was crying.

Angel whipped around, looking at the group behind her. Several of them started, surprised by her sudden turn.

"Do you hear that?" she asked.

A chorus of shaking heads. Yet the sound only seemed to grow clearer to Angel, the sobs becoming more distinct.

"Someone's crying," she whispered, and spun around again, following the sound.

She didn't have to go far. A door labelled _'Examination Room 6' _loomed in front of her, and she opened it.

At first, Angel didn't know where the crying was coming from, but then she spotted the boy cowering under a metal table, trying to fold himself into a corner.

She crouched down, peering at him...and the boy's appearance shocked her.

He was clothed in a long sleeved shirt and trousers, but it was not his state of dress that drew Angel's attention. It was his features.

His skin was pale as snow, his hair so blonde it was almost white, and his eyes were the palest blue Angel had ever seen. Not that she'd seen many, but she figured there had to be over sixty people in their little group, and none had eyes that came even close to his shade.

Something whispered in the back of mind, a dim, clinical voice, sounding as though it were reciting a medical textbook.

_'Albinism is the lack of pigmentation in the skin, hair and the irises of the eyes, carried on a recessive gene...'_

She tried to concentrate on the voice, tried to dredge more information from the secret recesses of her mind...but it was gone. Like a shooting star, appearing and then disappearing in the space of a moment.

"Hey...what's your name?" she smiled, trying to put as much reassurance into her voice as she could.

"E-Earnest."

"Well, Earnest, my name's Angel, and we're working on getting out of here. Want to come along?"

"Where's my Dad?"

Angel shrugged. "I don't know, what's your Dad's name?"

"James Mangeli. I don't like my Dad...I don't want him to be here."

The name made the hairs on the back of Angel's neck stand up. She could have sworn she'd heard that name somewhere. But where?

To her surprise, a woman behind her spoke in her ear. "He's the man who did this to us."

And every muscle in Angel's body went stiff. Her arms locked, her legs tensed, her wings spread involuntarily.

James Mangeli was the man who'd done this to her...and his son was crouched right in front of her.

With an effort, Angel calmed herself down. Fury wouldn't encourage the poor kid to crawl out of there. She felt so sorry for Earnest, having that kind of man for a father...

"Your father's gone, Earnest."

The relief that spread across his face spent a sharp pang through Angel's heart. His arms extended to grasp her proffered hand, and Angel noticed something. Most of the skin she could see was pure white, but the exposed flesh of his right hand and left leg were darker, as though they had been burnt. Had Mangeli used his own son in his experiments?

For some reason, that nagged at Angel's mind. A boy with a right arm and left leg that were different from the rest of his body. But they hadn't just been darker skin, they had been...

Angel tried to grasp that memory, but it was already leaving. Like grains of sand slipping between her fingers, the more she tried to hold it, the faster it fled from her.

Earnest crawled from under the table, grasping her arm tightly. Angel gave another reassuring smile.

"Do you know how to get out of here?"

He shook his head, "Dad never let me leave. He said it was dangerous."

_'I'll bet,'_ Angel thought sarcastically. _'Dangerous for him, if you told someone what a nutcase your father was.'_

"I think it'll be okay," was all she said.

With another to swell their ranks, the erstwhile prisoners resumed their search for an escape rout.

**oooooooo**

_August 23rd – Marketplace, Central_

Lost within the maze of the underground laboratory, the prisoners had been unable to find their way out. Until Angel took matters into her own hands, and simply blasted the roof away.

She'd been able to fly through the hole, and had ferried the others to the surface one by one. That had bothered her – not the monotonous lifting, but that she'd even been physically capable of it in the first place. She was sure her chest and back weren't thickly muscled enough to provide that kind of lift, and even if she had the necessary strength, she should have needed a run-up. She should have needed a very long run-up to gain enough momentum to lift both herself and someone else into the air.

But she hadn't. She'd been able to fly straight up through the ceiling as though there were an industrial fan beneath her.

But Angel didn't have time to contemplate her strange powers of flight. They had to figure out what to do now.

They'd emerged into starlight, in an open area obviously meant to serve as some kind of marketplace. She'd heard people talking, claiming that they were in a place called 'Central'.

The name seemed familiar on her tongue, but Angel had other worries at the moment. The pitiful group from the lab were gathering around her like kittens huddling up with their mother. And now, Angel wasn't sure what to do. She'd freed them, sure, but she hadn't been prepared to take responsibility for a group of frightened refugees.

But what else could she do? She felt as though their bond of common suffering somehow connected them...made her want to take responsibility for them.

"Do any of you have anywhere to go?"

A few shaking heads were scattered throughout the crowd, but the majority were nodding.

"Well, you should probably go there."

A woman with brown hair and dark eyes touched her shoulder gently. "What about you? What will you do?"

_'That's a very good question,'_ Angel thought ruefully.

Something nagged at her mind, something she had to do. She held very still, as though afraid of interrupting the ripples of thought. And it came to her.

James Mangeli had to be stopped.

And she would be the one to do it. From their confrontation in the cell, she already knew he was afraid of her powers. She didn't really know why she felt so driven to bring him down, even with what had happened to her, it was like there was something else...something she had to do for someone...

Angel shook her head, realising that the woman was still waiting for her answer.

"I'm going after Mangeli," she finally replied. "I'm going to stop him."

The crowd looked at her with a certain amount of awe. And also, closure. As though, now that they knew she had a purpose, a goal, it was okay to leave her. Around her, people began to disperse, leaving in two's and three's, drifting into the depths of the city like smoke.

But the woman remained. As did Earnest, and at least fifteen others.

Angel looked at them. "You should go," she repeated, "I don't have anywhere to go."

"Neither do we," the woman said softly.

"I'm going to try and stop James Mangeli," she warned.

"Then we'll help you."

Angel stared at them, feeling the stirrings of anger. Why couldn't they listen to her? Didn't they realise she would be bringing them into danger, into situations where they could be injured, even killed?

But she did not speak any of her thoughts aloud as a sudden understanding came to her. She _would_ need help, and if they wanted to stay with her, it was their choice to make. She couldn't make it for them.

Angel sighed. "Come on, we'll have to find somewhere to eat and clean up."


	7. August 23rd, Beta

**Chapter 7**

**August 23rd**

_August 23rd – Lucky Horseshoe Hotel, Central_

There were eighteen people in Angel's little group, including her and Earnest. And each one had a story to tell.

The dark-eyes woman who had spoken to her earlier was called Jade. She'd been a nurse before Mangeli attacked her town, and her husband and children had died in the labs.

Jason had been librarian and part-time alchemist. Carrie had been living rough on the streets – a thief and a pickpocket, to put it plainly. Phillip had been a blacksmith. Sharon was a seamstress, and Wyatt had been a barkeep. Emily had been an engineer, Nathan had been a builder, Renee had been a plumber. George had been a shop assistant, Oliver was a teacher, Leslie had driven a taxi. Michael was an amateur magician, and Stefan had been a private detective.

And now...

Now they were currently taking advantage of a small hotel's facilities. It had been closed – while the owners were on vacation, most likely – but Carrie knew how to pick locks.

While Angel wondered briefly about the morals of such a thing – they were stealing, after all – she figured after the hell they lived through, they deserved a little leeway. They weren't going to rob the place blind either; just cleaning up, some new clothes and a little food. Then they were going to look for a place to sleep.

In the shower, Angel scrubbed and scrubbed at her skin, as though it would peel away to reveal who she really was. Her wings were awkward. It was hard to scrub her back with them in the way, and the weight of them kept throwing her off-balance. It took a long time to clean the feathers – they were so encrusted with dirt and dust that she was surprised at their real colour. She'd been expecting a grey, but instead they were pure, snowy white.

Eventually, she turned the water off and stepped out. Naked and dripping water onto the tiles, she stared at herself in the mirror for the longest time. Inspecting every facet of her appearance as a jeweller would inspect a gem.

She had straight, straw-gold hair that reached her waist. Running her fingers through the strands, she found they felt quite soft and smooth, almost silky. Her skin was very pale, and she debated briefly whether it had always been that way, or it was simply a result of never seeing the sun during her time in the cell…however long that had been. Either way, her skin was pale; not quite ivory, but more a wintry cream.

Her lips were pretty much average. Not too small, not too big, with a vaguely shell-pink tone to them. Her nose was small and straight, while her ears stuck out slightly from the sides of her head.

Angel examined the rest of her face. Her forehead was fairly smooth, the eyebrows light and thin. Her face wasn't plump or chubby, she could identify the slight swells of her cheekbones.

She decided she liked her jaw. It wasn't square, but it still gave an impression of determination while keeping its femininity. She parted her lips and looked at her teeth; they weren't blindingly white but were fairly straight and looked healthy enough. Her eyelashes weren't particularly long or thick but they were dark and full and probably capable of a coy flutter or two.

The eyes they framed were the sapphire blue of a summer sky, a light, joyous shade yet they still managed to look deep as the oceans. Angel couldn't help leaning closer to the glass, staring into her own eyes, trying to fathom the secrets in their depths. So innocuous, almost innocent, but when they caught the light just so they seemed hard as diamonds. They had a certain sparkle about them too, like a rippling stream catching the sunlight. She wondered at the contradictions; the determined, almost steely edge alongside the light-hearted glitter. They were gentle and open, and at the same time spirited and mysterious.

But she became uncomfortable, gazing into eyes – into a soul – shaped by events she could not remember, and soon looked away.

Shaking her head, Angel left her face in lieu of her body. Her veins showed through the pale skin like smoky blue ribbons, fading out of sight as they traversed her body, only to reappear wherever those pathways of blood strayed close to the surface. She was of average height, but she was built like a willow sapling, straight and slender. Though her wings screamed for scrutiny, Angel refused to be rushed, and she began her minute inspection with her neck. Her neck fit her, she decided, about average length but elegant, the column of her throat just visible.

She continued down her body.

Her shoulders were straight, her collarbones clearly defined. Her arms were lean, but the fingers and wrists were very strong – perhaps she had worked with her hands? Her hands themselves were small, with slight calluses on her palm and the pads of her fingers. Her fingers had small joints that looked as though they had been put to frequent use and the nails, though clean, were short and blunt, almost square. Her stomach wasn't exactly muscular, but it was toned, and she followed the slight flare of her hips with a curious finger.

Her legs were long and slim, and while she didn't think they were as capable as her arms, she could still feel hard, lean muscles. She must have managed to get a lot of exercise.

Angel turned away, her back now facing the mirror. She brushed her hair over her shoulder, took a deep breath, and craned her head around to get a glimpse of her back.

Pure white wings dominated her vision. They were anchored to her skin, their base stretching from her shoulder to just below her hip, and so wide only the thin strip of skin over her spine was clear of feathers. They arched upwards to come level with her head, and the long flight feathers at the bottom brushed against her ankles. She spread them wide, and was immediately astounded by how large they were – her wingspan must have been ten or twelve feet!

Then Angel looked at the wings themselves. They had short feathers on the top, progressing to larger, longer ones as her eyes travelled downwards. They looked exactly like the wings of a bird, with all the different types of feathers; soft, downy ones near the base, long, firm ones at the end. She flexed them, spreading them as wide as she could in the tiny bathroom and then folding them in. She was surprised at their flexibility; they could comfortably fold almost completely out of sight against her back.

Though she could clearly remembering the wings tearing her skin as they grew, there was no hint of scar tissue. The transition from flesh to feathers was smooth, almost elegant.

At length, Angel turned away from the mirror and the stranger she found there.

'_I would probably have been considered pretty,'_ she thought as she dried herself off, dabbing at her wings. _'Maybe even beautiful.'_

With a soft sigh, she donned the baggy gown again, and walked out of the bathroom.

**oooooooo**

_August 23rd – Warehouse District, Central_

"So, where are you taking us, exactly?" Angel couldn't help asking as Carrie led them through the towering buildings.

They were lucky it was so late. A small group walking through the streets and led by a girl with wings would have raised a lot of questions if anyone was still around.

"I lived in Central a while back," the woman answered, eyes darting from side to side. "And while I was...you know...living rough...I found this place...I never told anyone, but it would be perfect."

"And this place is...?"

"Here," she whispered, pulling up a drain cover. "In here."

"Does that lead where I think it leads?" Wyatt asked, eyeing the dark hole in the road. "I mean, that's not-"

"It's a sewer," Carrie said, already beginning to slide down the small metal ladder on the inside of the drain. "But don't worry, we won't actually be walking through the muck, we just need to get down there..."

The others automatically looked to Angel for guidance.

"It's dark down there," Earnest whimpered, clutching her arm tightly.

"It'll be okay," Angel coached, "I'll go down next, okay? I'll make sure it's safe."

Her wings made it awkward to descend into the drain – they kept shifting unconsciously, and hitting the sides. But she kept going, until she was standing on a small concrete shelf above the sewer waters.

One by one, the others followed. Carrie set off along the shelf at a brisk trot, stopping in front of a large crack that ran the length of the wall beside them.

"Here."

"The crack?"

"Watch this."

And to the other's astonishment, Carrie slipped into the crack sideways, vanishing into the wall.

Amid the yelps and exclamations, Angel called, "Carrie! Carrie! What happened?"

Her voice came back from behind the moss-covered bricks. "Come on, it's okay...trust me."

Taking a deep breath, Angel turned sideways, flattened her wings against her back, and squeezed into the crack. The ragged walls pressed into her like a vice for a several moments, and then the pressure was abruptly released, as though she had come out in an open space.

Angel's brow furrowed, her eyes trying to pierce the darkness. "Carrie?"

"I'm here. Guess we forgot some light, huh?"

"Not necessarily."

Angel held her hand out, clenching her fist and concentrating. The white fire returned, flames that seemed to be composed of solid white light, flames that didn't burn, but instead felt like a silk glove on her skin.

White light spilled from the flames, illuminating the space around her...and Angel gasped.

She and Carrie had emerged through the end wall of an enormous wine cellar, obviously long unused. There was a long corridor running up the centre, with pillars creating small alcoves of either side. Gigantic wine barrels were resting in them, giving off a vague fruity odour.

Angel walked up the 'corridor', her fist held high, watery light reaching the towering rafters. Angel guessed the roof would be about fifty feet above their heads.

A large circle of bricks stood in the middle of the corridor, as though it were once a vat of some kind. But Angel had no idea what kind of vat it could have been – the circle was about a metre in diameter, and the bricks only reached her waist.

At the end of the little walkway, there was evidence of a door, but a lumpy mess of set concrete blocked it. That probably explained this cellar's disuse – the building had probably been knocked down and the cellars filled in with concrete. But this one had obviously been a shoddy job.

"Well, what do you think?" Carrie asked, gesturing around the huge cellar.

Angel grinned. "Perfect. Let's get the others in here."

**oooooooo**

_August 23rd – Hidden Cellar, Central_

Several hours later, Angel curled up in her bed with a deep sense of satisfaction. Within the space of six hours, the cellar had become a pleasant base of operations. They'd been forced to make several trips to the surface again for materials, but now they were set up quite comfortably.

The wine in the barrels had been off, so they'd dumped it into the sewer. When cut in half and resting on the curved side, the barrels made very spacious beds. Everyone had claimed one of the small alcoves as a makeshift bedroom, given some privacy with sheets strung between the pillars.

Renee had discovered a rusty sink in the corner of the cellar, and with some quick plumbing tricks, coaxed it into working again. They now had running water, and as far as toiletry needs were concerned, Angel figured they could just squeeze through the crack in the wall and relieve themselves directly into the sewer.

The biggest problem had been lighting...until Angel discovered her white fire could be transmitted to other objects. It had taken some time, but eventually she had managed to create a bonfire in the 'vat' that sat in the middle of the cellar. The white fire gave light, but no heat or smoke. And it didn't extinguish. So all the 'bedrooms' were at the very ends of the cellar, where it was darkest.

At first, Angel had wanted to go after Mangeli straight away, but the others had convinced her otherwise. Earnest had mentioned that his father had backers – those who supported his research financially so they could profit from it later, and Angel decided it would be wise to go after them first. After all, they had no idea where Mangeli was, while Earnest had a good idea of who the backers were. And if they took out his support, Mangeli would be stranded, and might be forced to reveal himself, however discreetly, in an attempt to garner more.

Yes, everything was going to work out fine.

Angel smothered a yawn with her hand, rolled over on her side (being careful not to squash her wings) and closed her eyes.

**oooooooo**

_AN: This chapter may have seemed unduly lengthly, but I felt it was necessary. With that part in front of the mirror, I tried to show Angel's confusion at who she could have been – examining herself in the mirror for clues as to who she was. I wanted to show that the people who were following her were from all walks of life, and so gave them a brief job description to try and flesh them out, rather than having them as faceless minions. And as for the cellar, well, every hero needs a base of operation._


	8. August 24th

**Chapter 8**

**August 24th**

_August 24th – Military Headquarters, Central_

Ed blinked blearily at the light filtering through the curtains. For the space of a heartbeat, silence reigned in the room, and he wondered what had woken him. But then a loud thudding from the door reached his ear.

"Ed! ED! Are you in there?"

"Coming!" he yelled.

Opening the door, he was surprised to find Riza Hawkeye.

"What is it?"

"Come with me," she said, gesturing for both Elric brothers to follow her.

"What?" Ed yelped. "Why?"

"What's going on, Lieutenant?" Al asked, more politely.

"They've found Mangeli's lab."

**oooooooo**

_August 24th – Marketplace, Central_

"It was underneath Central?" Ed asked blankly, looking at the deep, ragged hole in the pavement.

His eyes snapped to Roy's. "And no one knew?"

Ed tried to tamp down his rage. But the thought that Winry had been right underneath his feet all along and he'd never known...

"What happened?" Al asked, crouching to peer down the hole.

"So far, it looks like something tore it's way out of the lab," Roy sighed. "We're talking to some survivors, trying to find out what happened."

"Survivors..." Ed took a deep breath. "Is...did you see...?"

Riza spoke for him. "No. We didn't see Winry."

Ed closed his eyes as though he had been dealt a physical blow. "What about the lab?"

"We're going in now. We don't think Mangeli's still in there but...keep your guard up."

**oooooooo**

_August 24th – Mangeli's Laboratory, Central_

The whole place gave Ed the creeps. The walls, the ceiling and the floor were made of harsh, shining metal, reflecting the glare of the too-bright lights above their heads. The clanging of Al's armour echoed eerily through the halls and cells. The entire atmosphere was so clinical, so coldblooded...

He cracked open a door labelled _'Examination Room 03'_ and peered inside. A metal chair sat in the middle of the room, and shelves lined the opposite wall. Shelves stocked with what looked like braids of hair.

Out of curiosity, he walked inside. The mops of hair didn't seem to be arranged in any order he could discern. There was a long, thick black braid beside soft red curls, which were next to..

Ed froze.

He knew those straight, shiny locks. He knew that colour – not quite lemon or bronze, but more like gold touched by moonbeams.

It was Winry's hair.

Feeling as the breath were slowly being squeezed from his lungs, he reached out and picked the hair up, feeling it slither over his fingers.

"Al," he croaked out. "Al...I found something..."

"Brother?" A reverberating clanging signaled Al's approach. "What is it?"

He held the hair out, his hand shaking.

"Is that-?" Al cried out, staring at the blonde strands.

"Yeah."

Al didn't question how he knew, and Ed was grateful. He couldn't be sure himself. It was just some deeply ingrained instinct that told him this was Winry's hair.

"Ed?"

Ed looked up, his body jolting in surprise. "Lieutenant Hawkeye?"

"We found something you should take a look at."

Ed swallowed, hoping desperately she wasn't going to ask him to identify Winry's body. "I'm coming."

**oooooooo**

_August 24th – Mangeli's Laboratory, Central_

_W.R. – 1916_

_D.O.B – 21 Mar 1899_

_I will not give in, I will not become his puppet._

_I refuse to die here._

Ed had no doubt who had written those words. He looked around the cold metal cell, and his heart broke at the thought of Winry imprisoned here.

He became aware that Roy and Riza were talking behind him with Al. He rose slowly to his feet, and turned to see all three of them bent over a file of some kind.

"What's that?" he said, surprised by how hoarse his voice was.

Silently, Riza handed it to him.

_'Subject Delta'_ was printed in bold letters on the front, and Ed opened it.

He felt like someone had speared him through the chest as his eyes skimmed the contents.

A picture of Winry, naked and backed up against the wall of a cell, eyes glaring at the camera.

A shot of a transmutation circle.

A sketch of what looked like an angel – a human with wings growing from their back.

Sheets of calculations and notes on bird and human anatomy.

And finally, a hastily-scrawled note at the back;

_'Subject Delta appears fully recovered, apart from lethargy and apparent disinterest in her environment. Her wings seem to be fully developed, and the injuries they caused healed remarkably quickly. It is interesting to note her hair grew back, to what my records show was it's original length. All scars and evidence of past injuries appear to have vanished also. Though there is no alteration to her musculature, it has been evidenced by Subject Omega that the alchemically gifted strength need not alter the original physique, as it is metaphysical on origin.'_

_'It appears that the daemon's essence has not been able to anchor in Subject Delta, though I have not yet determined how she could have survived the transmutation without it.'_

And finally, a photo of Winry, curled up on her side in the fetal position. Two wings grew from her back, their white feathers streaked with blood.

What had Mangeli done to her?

**oooooooo**

_August 24th - Marketplace, Central_

"Ed, come over here for a moment," Riza waved him over from where she was talking with one of the escapees from the lab.

He moved in a daze, feeling as if he were in a fog. His mind and heart were still reeling from the blow dealt by the 'Subject Delta' file.

Riza nodded at the man she was interviewing. "He says they were rescued by a woman. More specifically, a woman with wings."

Ed's mind instantly snapped back to the photo in the file. Winry with wings growing out of her back...

The tall man cleared his throat, looking nervously at Ed. "She said she'd lost all memory of her life before the lab. She adopted the name 'Angel' – she didn't even know what her name used to be."

"Can you describe her?" Riza asked, her pen poised over her notebook.

"Sure. She was about his height," he pointed at Ed, "She had pale skin, bright blue eyes, and light blonde hair that reached to about her waist..."

"Was she stocky?"

"Nah, real slender."

Ed made a soft, choking sound in the back of his throat. He'd heard enough. It had to be Winry. She'd survived – she was alive! Alive!

But she'd lost her memory. Did that mean she was still Winry? Or was everything that had ever been Winry erased and re-shaped by the cruelties she'd endured since being robbed of her memories?

He didn't know. And at that moment, Ed thought that concept was even more frightening than the idea of Winry being dead.

**oooooooo**

_AN: Some people have asked if I deliberately made Mangeli remind you of Mengele, and the answer is; yes, I did. I looked at the names of the famous Nazi war criminals, played around with them, and Mangeli from Mengele was the best result._


	9. August 25th to September 1st

**Chapter 9**

**August 25th – September 1st**

_AN: This could be called the 'explanation chapter', where much of Angel's powers are explained and explored. It also explains why, in my story, Riza has been transferred back to Roy._

**oooooooo**

_August 25th – Military Headquarters, Central_

Ed still couldn't believe it. The very idea seemed like some child's fantasy...and yet...

He'd been looking over Mangeli's files, and been disturbed by a sketch of the Gate. And even more shocked by the recordings following it.

Apparently, the dark arms so characteristic of any trip to the Gate were actual beings. Metaphysical creatures that Mangeli called 'daemons'. And in an effort to boost his alchemical power, Mangeli had merged his soul with one of them.

He had noted that this allowed him to ignore Equivalent Exchange and nullify alchemy if he so chose (Ed was strongly reminded of Father). He was able to perform alchemy without even the need to clap his hands, and if he imbued the essence of the daemon into his subjects, he was able to control them, utterly and completely. It was also the only way a human being could survive his transmutations – the daemon made their body and spirit more malleable, and gave them the strength to live through the ordeal.

But his notes said that the daemon hadn't been able to anchor in Winry. He couldn't control her. But Ed couldn't help wondering what made Winry so different. Why had the daemon been unable to latch onto her? How had she survived without it?

But Mangeli had recorded that Winry seemed to display several of the traits that the daemon imbued. He had noted that the daemon essence gave enhanced strength and dexterity, the malleability of the body made it heal faster, and enabled a smooth blend between human and animal.

And while Winry had shown little evidence of enhanced strength or dexterity, Mangeli had noted that she had healed remarkably quickly – even when taking into account the daemon essence. But she had been spared the compulsion to obey him.

So what did that mean? Was it simply that Winry was too headstrong for the daemon to rein her in, or was there something more?

**oooooooo**

_August 29th – Hidden Cellar, Central_

"Try it again," Jade coaxed.

"My head hurts," Angel muttered, her voice surly.

"That means you need to practice."

"Well, what would you know about it? Ever treated someone with telepathy before?"

Jade bore Angel's grumbling calmly. "Try it again. What number am I thinking of?"

Angel's brow furrowed. Jade tried to hold the picture of 16 in her mind as clearly as she could. Being near Angel as she activated her telepathic powers was always strange – you couldn't see or hear anything, but you _knew_ there was something happening.

"Sixteen," Angel said at last.

"Good. Now close your eyes."

Angel did so, and Jade picked up a scrap of cloth in her hand.

"I'm holding a piece of cloth."

Angel nodded.

Jade set it down. "Now I'm holding a wooden spoon."

"You're lying," Angel said instantly. "There's nothing in your hand."

They had found that Angel was particularly sensitive to lies. For some reason, she just seemed to _know_ when someone was telling a lie, though she had to activate her telepathy to see what the truth was. Detection was second-nature, but correction took a bit more effort.

"That's good," Jade praised. "Keep your eyes closed, and I'll shuffle the cards."

The tatty deck was duly shuffled, and Jade began drawing cards, watching Angel's brow wrinkle as she struggled to read her mind and name them.

"Four of...hearts! Four of hearts! Ace of spades...ten of clubs...two of clubs...jack of diamonds..."

"How's your head?"

"Not so good."

"Then let's stop for now," Jade said, putting the deck away.

Angel's eyes opened, and a tired grin lit her face. "Any progress?"

"Well, we managed to get through nearly half an hour of exercises before you began to experience headaches. And then the ache never got bad enough for you to demand that we stop."

"So...improvement?"

"Definitely."

Angel grinned and stretched, her arms arching above her head, her wings fanning out to either side. "I think I'll go sleep for an hour or two – just until my head stops throbbing."

Jade smiled.

It had been several days since Angel had first started exploring her abilities, and she was already showing vast improvement. Her 'training' had started at Earnest's suggestion, who could dimly remember his father talking about Subject Delta, and what powers he hoped to imbue in her.

And so began the voyage of discovery.

With her background in nursing, they all felt Jade was the most qualified to monitor Angel's little 'experiments'. Coupled with Earnest's suggestions, they were able to get a fairly clear picture of what Angel could do.

She was possessed of unnatural strength and dexterity – without the corresponding musculature Jade would have expected to see. To be able to lift the wings, let alone fly, would have required a mass of muscle Angel simply didn't appear to have. Yet no one could doubt that she could fly – they saw evidence of it every day.

Her 'white fire' was something completely different. The large 'bonfire' that gave the cellar light was utterly harmless – they could shove their hands into it, and it felt like pushing their hands through mist. But if Angel _hurled_ it from her fist, it acted like a battering ram of fire, destroying everything in it's path.

She was capable of turning her skin to metal. Skin, hair, fingernails, in short, anything made of keratin could be rearranged to resemble steel. The only problem was that Angel couldn't change her eyes – the lids, yes – but the eyes themselves couldn't become steel. But all that meant was the if she 'metaled-up' to avoid some kind of damage, she'd have to close her eyes as well.

But there was little damage she couldn't survive. As they'd determined when a barrel fell on her, Angel healed at a remarkable rate. Cuts and gashes would heal in under a minute, and when she'd tripped on one of wings and broken her wrist, the bone had reset in a matter of hours.

Her wings were permanent attachments, but they could be...retracted. Angel's body seemed to be very malleable when she 'metaled-up' – in one instance, she was able to extend and sharpen her fingers to resemble claws. While she was metal, her wings could somehow fold into her body, and if she then turned back to flesh with them still 'retracted', they remained so. The only evidence of their existence were two thin strips of metal on either side of her spine – even if she had shifted back to flesh and blood, the metal on her back remained if her wings were still 'retracted'. To bring them back, she had to shift back to her metal state, unfurl them, and shift back to flesh once more.

It seemed effortless, but Angel had told Jade that when her wings were retracted, it was like exercising a muscle. She couldn't hold it indefinitely, and she couldn't go to sleep with them retracted. Currently, the longest period of time she could hold them in for was only three hours. Beyond that, the strain became physically painful.

One of her quirks had been discovered by accident, when Jason, practicing some of his alchemy, had discovered he couldn't perform it with Angel around. For some reason, her presence nullified any attempt at alchemy. The circle might be perfect, all the materials might be there...but if Angel was anywhere in the vicinity, it simply wouldn't work. They'd worked especially hard at this, and now alchemy could be performed easily in her presence...unless she chose to stop it.

But there had been disasters too. Earnest had said his Dad mentioned invisibility, but when Angel tried it, all she got was an explosive headache. The attempt at long-range telepathy had been a miserable failure too. Angel could read someone's mind if they were holding a picture or a word in their heads as clearly as they could, or if she was looking into their eyes. But over a long distance? Nothing.

Watching Angel progress, Jade could only thank her lucky stars that Mangeli's brainwashing hadn't worked on her. If they'd faced her as a enemy, how could they have possibly stopped her?

**oooooooo**

_August 30th – Hidden Cellar, Central_

"Let's go over what we know about, from the top," Jade began, pulling out the scrappy notebook she used to record these 'sessions' in. She always felt very professional doing this – much more exciting than being a nurse in a small town hospital.

Angel raised her eyebrows, an unsubtle signal to begin.

Jade had taken a medical exam, of course, to go into nursing, and so had a rudimentary understanding of amnesia. These 'sessions' with Angel were like their exercises, except they didn't stretch her abilities...they stretched her memory.

Ever day for at least an hour, Angel and Jade would try to piece together Angel's past.

"For one thing, your appearance. You're definitely very pretty, but I think we can rule out modeling as a career."

"How so?"

"For one thing, you don't have the look of someone who went on constant diets or never touched a chocolate in her life. It isn't tendons and bones under your skin, it's a layer of lean muscle."

"So...?"

"So you've got a body that, while no hard labourer, is no stranger to work. We can't judge by physical strength, but from your musculature, I'd say you used your arms a lot more than your legs. Your legs are quite fit, but I'd say it's the fitness that comes from the innocuous. Jogging around the block, walking the dog, running to the store, those kinds of things. But your arms are obviously accustomed to extensive, regular use. I'd usually see this kind of thing with part-time weightlifters, rowers, masseuses, mechanics, those kinds of people."

"So you think I did something like that?"

"Yes, but one aspect I find extremely puzzling is your fingers."

"My fingers?" Angel held her hand in front of her face, flexing and stretching the digits. "What about them?"

"They're strong, but they're also refined, precise. At first, I thought piano player, but musicians generally develop a curve to their fingers, and that was conspicuously absent. If you'd been a musician long enough to develop your finger like that, you'd have a very prominent curve. But you have a surgeon's fingers, a clock-mender's fingers...you see my problem?"

"Not really."

"These kind of fingers are used to precision work, but your arms are used to hard labour. Put them together, and it just doesn't add up. If you work was in your strength, why have such delicate fingers? If your work was in your delicacy, why have such strong arms?"

"So, my job is essentially a mystery."

"It is now, but have you had any memories return to you lately?"

"Not really," Angel's brow furrowed. "I think...I can swear...someone told me I wasn't a killer. I'm sure of it. Someone..."

"Any idea who this 'someone' is?"

"No, and that's the worst of it. Whenever I try to think of him – and I'm fairly sure he's a male, by the way – all that comes up is this flash of gold."

"Any idea what he was to you?"

"Nope."

"Father? Brother? Cousin? Uncle? Friend? Lover?"

"I...I don't know."

"Pick one."

"I can't!"

"Then that's because none of them feel right. But don't try to force it. The more you strain, the tighter your mind locks the memories up."

"Sorry."

"And don't apologise. Now, have you had any bizarre dreams lately, any that you can't explain?"

Back and forth it went, Jade struggling to paint a picture of who Angel was in the Before, and Angel struggling to dredge memories from the black sea of her mind.

**oooooooo**

_September 1st – Military Headquarters, Central_

Roy knew he was in trouble. Spreading rumours about military corruption and dissuading several State Alchemist candidates from taking the exam did not a good career move make.

But...anything to foil Wrath's plans _did_ a satisfied Roy make.

"You are, of course, aware why I have asked to speak to the two of you," Bradley said flatly, coming to stand in front of his desk.

"I am aware of why you chose to see me, sir," Roy answered, "But I am not aware of why you chose to speak to Lieutenant Hawkeye."

It was true, Roy wasn't aware. All he knew was that he didn't like it.

"I have received reports of some...undesirable conduct on your part, Colonel Mustang. Conduct which may lead the common man to think badly of the military."

Roy tried to keep his expression politely interested. As though he recognised the charges were weighty, but thought whoever filed them was a crackpot.

"You are aware that you were warned against such conduct several months ago."

Roy nodded. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Riza growing tense. So far, her presence seemed almost pointless – the Fuhrer hadn't even asked her to record their conversation.

"You examined Mangeli's notes, correct?" Bradley asked, the change of topic throwing Roy for a loop.

"Yes, sir..."

"You are aware that the essence of what he refers to as a 'Gate daemon' will render a human subject utterly obedient to the creature who plants it within them?"

"Yes, sir..."

"And you are aware that such a creature need only touch the human possessing the daemon essence to activate their complete, unswerving and utterly mindless obedience?"

"Yes, sir..."

"Good."

Then Wrath reached over and touched Riza's forearm.

Riza froze, and her eyes went blank. Not cold or distant, just blank. Nobody home.

"Stand up, Lieutenant Hawkeye," Wrath ordered.

She did. And Roy gained a sudden, personal understanding of what it was like to have his blood freeze in his veins.

Riza was there, yes, but only in body. The mind and spirit behind those red eyes seemed to have vanished, extinguished as swiftly as one might blow out a candle.

Wrath hadn't finished speaking. "Take out your gun and prime it."

She did so. Roy's dazed mind wondered if Wrath's plan was to have Riza shoot him...until he made her do something that was, to Roy, far more frightening.

"Place the barrel against your temple and prepare to fire."

"No!" Roy yelled, finally snapped out of his stunned stupor by the prospect of watching Riza die before his eyes.

"She won't listen to you, Colonel." Wrath didn't exactly smirk, but Roy could practically feel his satisfaction. "In this state, it is me and me alone that she obeys. With no thought to anyone else, or even her own well-being."

"No, no..."

He looked right into Roy's eyes as he said, "I could order her to blow her head off, to walk off a cliff...and she'd do it without a second thought."

"Please no..." Roy choked out, the words catching in his throat. When was the last time he had begged for anything? "Don't, please..."

"You beg well, Colonel. But it will take a lot of groveling to dissuade me from having one of the most prominent thorns in my side kill herself. So I suggest getting on your knees."

Bile rose in Roy' throat at the thought of getting on his knees before the monster in front of him. But then he looked at Riza, eyes empty, gun pressing into the side of her head, poised to end her life. Between her life and his pride, there was no contest.

So Roy closed his eyes, dropped to to his knees, and began pleading.

**oooooooo**

_September 1st – Military Headquarters, Central_

When he tired of Roy's humiliation, Wrath flicked his finger against Riza's neck. Her eyes rolled up, her body sagged, and she would have fallen if Roy hadn't leapt to his feet to catch her. She was limp and unresponsive as a corpse as he lowered her to the floor, the tightness in his chest – present ever since that moment when Riza's eyes went blank – finally eased.

"I hope this lesson has been well learned, Colonel," Bradley said, striding out of the office. "All it takes a moment of contact, and she will do anything I order her to – whether it's to shoot you in the back, or turn the gun on herself. You have overstepped your bounds one too many times. Do it once more...and I won't vouch for Lieutenant Hawkeye's safety."

Roy was so focused on Riza he barely noticed when the Fuhrer left the room.

"Come on, Hawkeye," he whispered softly, trying to rouse her.

Her face twisted into a grimace and her breath hissed through her teeth. Her eyes opened quickly, instantly evaluating the situation. Roy could see Riza's confusion at being on the floor of the Fuhrer's office, held in her superior's arms.

"Sir...?"

"Hawkeye, are you...alright?"

"Fine, sir. But what happened? Did I...faint?"

Roy smiled, but there was little humour in it. "No quite."

He told her everything. The daemon essence Wrath had somehow implanted into her body, the way it could wipe her mind blank of anything but the need to obey the homunculus, the way Wrath had demanded Roy kneel and beg for her life.

"What...what did you do, sir?"

Another joyless smile. "You're still alive, aren't you?"

They shared a long, grim silence. Wrath's message was clear – Riza had been transferred back to manipulate him. His previous demonstration had been purely to humiliate Roy and remind him of his place.

And Roy was left wondering. What could he do? Wrath could kill or injure Riza within moments, provided he was given an opportunity to come into physical contact with her – which meant Roy couldn't do anything without risking Riza.

And frankly, that was something Roy never wanted to do.


	10. September 15th to October 27th

**Chapter 10**

**September 15th – October 27th**

_September 15th – Dubell's Department of Science, Central_

Carrie dropped to the ground from the window as silently as a cat.

"Well?" Angel breathed.

"Earnest was right, he's definitely a Mangeli supporter." Carrie revealed a small file tucked under her shirt. "It's all here – he gave Mangeli supplies, and in return, Mangeli shared the results of his experiments with him."

Angel's smile was feral. "Well, I think it's time we paid a visit, don't you?"

She glanced back at the others – about half of the group had been chosen to accompany her on this 'mission'. Angel was still puzzled as to why they followed her, when she was clearly younger than all of them, save Earnest.

She nodded to Jason, who produced a piece of chalk and drew a transmutation circle on the wall of the building. He placed his hands on the circle, and the entire building warped. All doors and windows to the outside closed off, even gutters and air vents were blocked when the bricks warped and melded across them. But in front of the small group outside, Jason opened the wall like a door, giving them easy access.

Angel closed her eyes, concentrating on releasing the coiled web inside her, spreading it out to engulf the building...

Her eyes opened. "Done – anyone using alchemy will get an interesting surprise."

She'd activated her ability to nullify transmutations, and deliberately sent it out to permeate the building. Any alchemist inside would find their transmutations unable to work – no one would be able to use alchemy to escape.

Angel and her followers marched into the building like messengers of doom.

**oooooooo**

_September 16th – Military Headquarters, Central_

"And there was solid proof Dubell was involved with Mangeli?" Roy barked into the phone. "Yes, alright...beyond doubt, you say? Fine. What's he saying happened to his facility? No, wait, let me guess. A girl with wings, calling herself Angel, took over with about eight other people, marched Dubell and his people outside, proceeded to demolish the facility, then tied them up and dumped them outside a military office with the incriminating file pinned to the ropes?"

Roy listened for a moment more, then hung up.

"Again, sir?" Riza queried.

"Yes, again. Just like the other three Mangeli supporters arrested so far. Winry's certainly keeping herself busy."

"Well, if all she remembers is being held and tortured in a lab, it makes sense she'd try to strike out at the person who held her there."

"But that's just it," Roy said, shaking his head in disbelief. "The facilities themselves are what's destroyed, along with their research and equipment – enough to ensure they can never do this again, and no one can step up and fill their place. The people themselves aren't harmed unless they resist, and so far, none of them have been killed, no matter what they did or how much they resisted. They were restrained and left where justice could be carried out, with all incriminating evidence left with them. Don't you see? She left them to us, so the final step could be carried out within legal boundaries."

"What exactly are you saying, sir?"

"Whatever Winry has become, it isn't some revenge-crazed psychopath, or a terrified victim out of control and lashing out at those who hurt her. In fact, I'd say it was quite the opposite."

Roy's eyes dropped to his desk, looking at the file in front of him detailing the latest attack on Mangeli's supporters. "Looking at what she's done with a professional eye...if I were asked to give my opinion of what she was like...I'd say we were looking for a smart, altruistic, level-headed person who's main motives have little to do with herself and everything to do with others. It's almost like she knows she's the only one who can stop Mangeli, so she plans to do so 'for the good of others'. The attacks on his supporters tell me she's methodical – she plans to make sure no one can ever repeat his atrocities – and that she's a talented strategist. These attacks were planned and executed with precision accuracy."

"And what's more, she's got followers who are driven by loyalty and devotion rather than by material gains. She'll be a good leader, putting the needs of the collective group above her own individual desires. She'll lead with compassion and understanding rather than dominance or fear, and even though many of her followers may be older than her, they defer to her because they recognise that she's the better leader."

Roy gave a single, gusty sigh. "In short, she is a person I would not like to have as an enemy."

Riza's eyes were distant, and she was obviously thinking very hard. "Do you think anything of Winry is left in Angel?"

"Yes – without a doubt."

"Why 'without a doubt'? I would think there's every reason to doubt – many amnesia victims experience memory loss so complete, they become completely new people."

"I know, but honestly, Hawkeye, look at the evidence. All of 'Angel's' memories involve pain, fear and helplessness. You what kind of mentality that breeds."

Riza nodded. "Violent, antisocial, frustrated, angry..."

"And the list goes on. But from what we know, Angel displays little of these traits. These people wouldn't follow her if she did. Something of Winry has to be there, something prevented her from degenerating into a psychopath."

**oooooooo**

_September 20th – Hidden Cellar, Central_

Angel strolled along the rafters, about fifty feet above Earnest's and Jade's heads. Her wings spread out behind her like a trail of white silk, slightly opened to help her balance. She reached the middle of the wooden beam and bent over, placing both hands on the narrow surface and flipping into a handstand.

Her wings fanned out on either side of her, quivering slightly as Angel held her position.

Then abruptly, she relaxed, flipping back upright in a swirl of feathers.

"Feel like coming down now?" Jade called teasingly.

Angel grinned, and simply stepped off the beam into open space. She fell feet first, her wings opening to catch the air and glide her gently to the floor.

"I had a dream last night," she murmured when she was level with them. "I was sitting at a table, with an old woman and a dog."

Jade's eyes lit up. "Any specific details?"

"Yeah, the woman was short – and I mean really short! And the dog had a leg made of metal. Except it moved and walked and everything – just like a normal limb!"

"That sounds like automail," Earnest piped up.

"Automail?"

"Yeah, it's a sort of mechanical limb that connects to nerves and everything. My Mum was an automail mechanic, before she...died..."

"Automail..." Jade grew thoughtful. "Automail...a branch of mechanics...requiring precision work...Angel, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Depends," Angel grinned, "Do I _want_ to be thinking what you're thinking?"

"I'm thinking we may have found your job."

"You mean you think I worked with automail?"

"It would explain a lot. The way your arms are extremely strong, but your fingers still very delicate. It would also explain your vocabulary."

"My vocabulary?"

"You use rather technical terms sometimes, and I've noticed they often have something to do with either mechanic or medicine – that is, doctor terms. Which makes sense, considering that automail mechanics need extensive medical training. But there's one thing that doesn't make sense..."

"Well? Don't keep me in suspense!"

"Your age. From the way your muscles have developed, you were obviously working full-time, but it takes most mechanics years to get that far. Most are in their late twenties at the very youngest! But if you're a day over twenty-one, I'll eat my hat!"

"You don't have a hat."

"It's a figure of speech."

Angel grinned. "So...either I've aged really well, or I was a genius, is that what your saying?"

"Bingo."

Angel grinned. "I think I like the idea of being a genius better."

She threw an arm around Earnest, trying to pull the quiet boy into the conversation. "Now, Earnest, have you had lunch yet? I'm absolutely starving, so let's grab something to eat, okay?"

With a wave of her hand to Jade, Angel and Earnest disappeared into the crowd of people around the strange bonfire. But disappeared was perhaps too strong a word – wherever she went, Angel's wings were always all-too visible.

Angel and Earnest ate in companionable silence, Angel pondering on why Earnest always seemed so nigglingly familiar. Something about his appearance, the right arm and left leg that were so different from the rest of his body...she could swear she remembered someone with something like that...

**oooooooo**

_October 15th – Military Headquarters, Central_

"And there's absolutely no information about where they are?" Ed repeated, still unable to believe it.

Roy shook his head. "Wherever they're hiding, they're doing a good job of it. So far, no one knows where Angel could possibly be hiding – it's as though she simply appears out of thin air to dismantle a Mangeli supporter, and then vanishes again."

Ed slumped in his chair.

"But we do have some interesting information. We've obtained information about two Mangeli supporters that are currently living and working in Central-"

"So why don't you just go and arrest them!" Ed bellowed, enraged.

Two people were wandering around Central who had supported Mangeli – who had enabled and encouraged Winry's torture. The very idea sent seething hatred through Ed's veins.

"We aren't going after them...we'll wait for her to do it."

"You mean...a trap?" Al ventured.

"Not quite," Roy shook his head. "We don't want to take her into custody – if we'd even be capable of catching her in the first place. We want to...well, confront her, for lack of a better word. Just get the measure of her, figure out where she stands..."

He smirked at the Elric brothers. "Are you two up for a few days of some covert surveillance?"

**oooooooo**

_October 27th – Medical Research Facility, Central_

Ed yawned, trying to keep it quiet. But it was difficult not to fling his arms to the sky and shout in frustration. Twelve nights. For twelve long nights, the four of them – he, Al, Roy and Riza – had been monitoring this place, stuck on the roof of a nearby building, hoping that this would be the first of the two to be struck.

And so far, no luck.

"Do you see that?" Riza hissed suddenly.

"What?" Roy muttered, jerking out of a light doze. "See what?"

Riza pointed mutely.

And they saw it. A small group of people were gathering around the back of the building. A man seemed to be drawing on it with chalk, drawing what looked like...a transmutation circle?

"Alchemy!" Al whispered.

But before they could react, a flash of white caught their collective attention. Ed choked.

She stepped out from behind the corner of the building, her pale colouring contrasting starkly with the dark night. Two huge white wings grew from her back.

It was Winry, there could be no doubt about it. Blonde hair waving in the slight breeze, limbs tensed, eyes darting from side to side. She was alert, wary, scanning for any possible threats to herself or her people.

"We need to get down there," Ed hissed, but then his breath froze in his lungs.

Winry had looked up, and their eyes had locked.


	11. October 27th to November 3rd

**Chapter 11**

**October 27th – November 3rd**

_October 27th – Medical Research Facility, Central_

Angel's mouth went dry. She knew those people were watching them, she knew she should do something...but she couldn't seem to rip her eyes away from those of the blonde boy on the roof.

Suddenly, abruptly, memories slammed into her mind like a freight train.

_Didn't I tell you to at least call before you show up?_

_Are you trying to kill me?_

_Isn't automail great?_

_I was wondering if you got hurt because the automail broke down..._

_You're always going to be a midget if you don't drink milk!_

_This is indeed the holy ground of automail._

_She's gonna give birth soon!_

_We have no choice but to trust in her memory!_

_I'm crying for the both of you..._

_You're going to Central? I want to go too!_

_What are you talking about?_

_Men's talk!_

_Didn't you help deliver a baby and save a mother and child in Rush Valley? Didn't you give me an arm and a leg to stand up with? You're hands are not those that kill people...they're hands that let people live._

_I think...I might have fallen for him a long time ago._

The rush was disorientating, disabling, and Angel felt she could have stayed like that, frozen as a mental slideshow sped past at the speed of light, for the rest of the night.

But then he moved. He leapt from the roof, one hand grabbing the drainpipe as he slid down, yelling one word at the top of his lungs.

"WINRY!"

She spun away, trying to clamp down on the steady stream of memories that name evoked. The stream that name and his face evoked.

"Everyone, WATCH OUT!"she bellowed, "We're caught!"

As one, the group's eyes flashed to the four figures descending from the roof.

"Forget the circle, Jason," Angel barked, already concentrating on nullifying all alchemy in the area.

She stepped forward, her flesh shifting to metal, her wings spreading wide to shelter the people behind her. White fire was already beginning to gather around her fists as she rushed forward.

Ed almost stopped in his tracks. Winry's skin had changed, taking on a hard, shining quality. White flames were licking at her hands, apparently summoned from thin air. Her blue eyes were fixed on him, and there was no recognition in their depths.

Her arms flung out to the sides, the white fire blasting away the buildings on either side of her, sending a rain of bricks and mortar to clog the alley, blocking their path.

Ed clapped his hands, prepared to transmute a pathway through the rubble, only to find that nothing happened. He clapped, he clapped again, Al clapped, he heard Mustang snap his fingers...and nothing happened.

Somehow, their alchemy had been disabled.

For an instant, Ed looked wildly around for Father, until he heard a voice from the top of the ruins.

"Just who are you?"

He looked up. Winry was perched on topmost brick of the rubble, one foot behind the other, in a feat of balance that didn't seem humanly possible. Her skin was still shining steel, but her eyes hadn't changed to metal. Her bright blue gaze was fixed on Ed, examining him, challenging him.

"And don't try any alchemy," she shot at Roy, who was still clicking his gloved fingers uselessly. "There'll be no alchemy in this place until I say so."

Ed knew his eyes had widened. She could nullify alchemy – just like Father?

"Where are your...followers?" Roy asked, looking around as though expecting people to spring from the shadows.

The winged girl glared. "I told them to go home - there's obviously not much point in trying to bust into this place tonight. Now, as I have the advantage in this scenario, I'll be asking the questions."

Angel concentrated, deliberately elongating her fingers into sharp claw-like appendages. Her nerves were strung taut from the effort of keeping the slew of memories at bay, at least until she had got the measure of these people. She couldn't afford to be distracted.

Riza's guns flew up, fully loaded and triggers cocked. "Not all of us are alchemists," she said calmly. "But I won't shoot if you don't make a move to threaten us."

Ed blanched at the sight of Riza pointing a gun at Winry. But Winry just shrugged, seeming utterly unaffected by the weapons.

"Go ahead, shoot. Even if the bullets don't ricochet off me, I can still guarantee that none of them will come close to seriously injuring me."

"You," her gaze landed on Ed once more. "What did you call me? And don't even think about lying, I can smell them a mile away."

"Winry..." Al muttered, before Ed could reply.

This time was much worse, hearing it spoken so articulately, with all her attention on those two syllables. Angel nearly screamed as a thunder of incoherent visions streamed into her brain. Memories...memories of her life before the lab.

Ed never knew what happened. One moment, Winry was staring down at them, the next she let out a chilling scream, her metal skin shifting back to flesh and feathers as she launched herself skyward, her pale form rising into the dark clouds.

"Winry!" he yelled. "WINRY!"

**oooooooo**

_October 28th – Military Headquarters, Central_

Ed was still having trouble believing it. He'd seen Winry, seen her perched on top of that pile of rubble, chin tilted proudly...and wings spread.

What had probably been the most astonishing was how powerful she was. He'd seen the wings in the photograph, but it didn't compare to seeing her standing there, the feathery appendages spread behind her. And they were clearly not useless pseudo-limbs either, from the way she'd taken off, they obviously granted her full and complete powers of flight.

And the metal skin, that white fire...

Ed shook his head. It hadn't seemed possible, yet the brick dust coating his clothes was living proof.

He felt so empty.

Some part of him had always believed that Winry's memories would magically return the instant she saw him. That the mere sight of him would be enough to restore her. But it hadn't happened. Instead, she'd loomed over them and fired off questions like they were suspects in an interrogation room.

It was all too clear. Winry remembered nothing about him.

**oooooooo**

_October 28th – Hidden Cellar, Central_

"And they never came back?" Jade asked.

"No," Angel whispered, fighting her despair.

The memories she'd pushed down, trying to buy time to gather her people and get them back home, had never resurfaced. Her chance to find out who she was had been right in front of her...and she hadn't been taken it.

And Angel couldn't help wondering...what if that had truly been her _only_ chance? What if they never came back again?

**oooooooo**

_November 3rd – 324 Whiterock Lane, Central_

Angel couldn't hold in a small grin of satisfaction. Andrea Shackleton had been an investor in Mangeli's experiments, not involved in them, but she funded him and expected to receive a cut of the profits. She was currently hitching an undignified ride, bound and gagged on Phillip's shoulder, ready to be delivered to the military.

Angel turned a corner, and then stopped abruptly. She'd come face to face with those four people from...that night.

"What do you want?" she asked, her voice calm, but her body tense. She instantly disabled any alchemy in the area, in case of an attack.

"We want to offer you a deal," the tall, dark-haired man said.

"What kind of deal?"

"We have information on Mageli – official records, information on family and friends...information that might lead you to him."

Angel tipped her head in acknowledgment. That had been one of her biggest worries – now that she was finished with Mangeli's supporters, how could track down the man himself?

"What do you want in return?"

This time, the blonde boy spoke. "We want you to tell us about _you_."

Angel turned to him, steeling herself for the buzz of recognition that zapped through her whenever she met his eyes. She could detect no lie in his words. She hesitated for a moment, but then nodded her agreement. Something told her this boy could be trusted.

_'How did I know you?'_ she wondered, _'What were you to me? What was I to you?'_

"Yes, I'll come to military headquarters in four days."

Behind her, she heard her group gasp. But she ignored them – she'd explain later.

"You might be a little conspicuous," th dark-haired man pointed out, nodding at her wings.

Angel grinned. "Trust me, you won't even know they're there."


	12. November 5th

**Chapter 12**

**November 5th**

_AN: In this chapter, there is a heavy discussion on amnesia/memory repression/psychological trauma. And I am taking this chance to state that I know very little about these things, so most of what's said is just what makes sense to me and makes the story work. It does have a very flimsy grounding in basic medical facts about memory loss, but it is very flimsy._

**oooooooo**

_November 5th – Military Headquarters, Central_

Angel's followers understood when she explained that she was going to get information on Mangeli, but refused to let her go alone. In the end, Jade and Earnest came with her, just in case there was trouble.

She had retracted her wings long before they walked into military grounds. It was a good thing Sharon had made those shirts for her – the ones that could tie up in the back. They worked to leave her wings free, but if she was going above ground and wanted to be inconspicuous, it could pull together and conceal the telltale strips of metal across her back.

Angel could see their astonishment when she appeared, looking as ordinary and unassuming as any girl they might pass on the street.

Ed could barely keep his mouth from dropping open as Winry strolled into Roy's office, her wings as absent as if they had been amputated.

She'd brought some friends as well. He was a little surprised that night when he saw that all her followers, save the albino boy, were older than her. He wouldn't have thought they would take well to being led by a teenager, but everything about their body language around her screamed, 'this is the leader'!

"Can I slip into something a little more comfortable?" she grinned.

"Uh...?"

With an ironic grin, she reached behind her, did something to the back of her shirt, and it fell open. Ed started at the large swathes of metal on either side of her spine. Then he blinked as her body flashed to metal, her wings seemed to shoot from her back, and then she shifted back to flesh and blood.

As Earnest chuckled at the group's collective astonishment, Angel introduced the two who had accompanied her.

"This is Earnest and Jade," she said, indicating each in turn.

Ed couldn't help the way his eyes narrowed at the albino boy who stood beside her, one of his hands grasping her sleeve. There was just something he didn't like about this boy. Maybe it was his eerie grin, his strangely-pale complexion...or it could be the way he seemed so familiar with Winry.

"So," Angel's face was set as she focused on the not-quite-strangers in front of her. "What can you give me on Mangeli?"

Riza stepped forward, holding a thick file. "All that we have on him is right here."

Angel eyed the blonde woman. There was something about her she just didn't trust. Sometimes, when she looked at her from the corner of her eye, there seemed to be a dark shadow hovering around her form. If Angel concentrated hard, she could almost make out a ghostly shadow of a demon-like figure...it was actually quite similar to the aura surrounding Mangeli's 'Subjects'.

In other words, it was just plain creepy.

"And in exchange, all I have to do is answer any questions you have about me?"

The blonde boy nodded.

Angel offered a grim smile. "What if I want to ask _you_ some questions about me?"

"Huh?"

"You," she said, pinning him with her eyes, "And you," she transferred her gaze to the armoured figure sitting quietly in the corner. "Called me 'Winry' the other night. And I remembered that name. You knew me before the lab."

It wasn't a question, it was a bald statement of fact.

"The question is; are you willing to tell me about myself?" Angel tried not to let her desperation leak into her words.

The blonde boy nodded vigorously. "Yes! I would have offered the other night, but...I thought you might not want to hear it"

Angel remembered the way she had screamed at hearing the name 'Winry', how she had taken off into the sky. "Yeah, I suppose I didn't exactly have a stellar reaction, did I?"

Ed grimaced, then suddenly remembered with a jolt that Winry probably had no idea who he was. "Uh...I'm Edward Elric by the way, and this is Alphonse Elric, Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, and Colonel Roy Mustang."

It felt rather surreal to be introducing himself to someone who had known him all her life.

But Winry seemed to be trying out his name on her tongue. "Edward Elric...Edward Elric...Edward...this will probably sound really strange, but I have the weirdest urge to call you Ed, is that okay?"

Ed nodded. "Please, go ahead. You used to..."

"Right...Ed."

She seemed to jump out of a reverie when Al stepped forward. "And can you...can you call me Al?"

Winry smiled. "Sure thing."

Angel looked around the room, feeling unaccountably at ease with these people, in spite of the menacing shadow hovering across Riza Hawkeye's form.

"Well," she grinned, "First things first, what do you want to know about me?"

**oooooooo**

_November 5th – Military Headquarters, Central_

It took several hours for Angel to relate her story, and hear the story of Winry Rockbell into the bargain.

Apparently, before Mangeli took her, Winry had been working in Rush Valley as a automail mechanic. She could still remember her astonishment when she asked if she was good, only to have Ed reply that she was the best. She could detect no lie in his words, telling her that they had been true – in his eyes, at least.

But now, the most loaded question of all. "Ed...what was I to you?"

She saw him stiffen slightly. "You were...my mechanic...my friend since before I can remember..."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

_'He's lying!' _Angel realised in astonishment. _'That's the first time he's lied through this entire discussion!'_

But why? She was half-tempted to flick the mental 'on-switch' to her telepathy and see what he was concealing, but didn't. It would have been an invasion. It was different when Jade was letting Angel probe her mind, but if Ed wanted to keep some secrets...Angel wasn't going to stop him.

"I just have one question," Roy Mustang asked, looking at Jade. "Amnesia...is it irreversible?"

Jade nodded. "Unfortunately...yes. Certain words, images or sensations may trigger a response, but there is always a gap. And that gap is utterly irreversible."

Everyone seemed to slump slightly. Angel couldn't hold in a quiet sigh of despair – she had been so sure...but then again, she'd just had Winry Rockbell's entire life history related to her, and while some of it had jogged images or feelings in her mind, most of it just sounded so...distant. So impersonal, so removed.

"But," Jade continued, "I'm fairly sure Angel...or Winry, whichever...doesn't have amnesia."

There was an explosion of collective noises of astonishment.

"For one thing, an amnesia patient wouldn't be experiencing so many flashbacks, nor so vivid. Amnesia patients can start their lives with a clean slate, and we've had proof that who 'Winry' was affected who 'Angel' grew to be."

Jade shook her head. "No, I think, all in all, Angel's memories are just repressed."

"Repressed?" Earnest repeated.

Jade pinned Angel with her eyes. "Angel...something happened in that lab. Something happened to you that was so traumatic, so appalling, so hideous, that the only way to deal with it...was to _not_ deal with it. Your mind couldn't deal with whatever happened, not then, so it had to push it all down, shut the source of the trauma off, so your mind could concentrate on simply surviving what was being done to you. The only trouble was that your mind was given no time to process it, and there was no opportunity to distinguish the trauma from the rest of the memories. So every memory involving the trauma _and every memory proceeding it_ were simply pushed away, shoved to the back of your mind and shut off. But they're still there, just waiting to be unlocked."

"So how could I unlock them?"

Jade sighed, "In truth, I don't have much of an idea. The only thing that might help would be...well..."

"Spit it out."

"Reliving the trauma," Jade's voice was very serious. "Somehow allowing the mind to experience and be allowed to cope with what triggered the repression in the first place."

"So, in short, I have to be held captive and have an alchemist perform weird experiments on me," Angel snorted, then gave a short laugh. "How about it, Ed? Feel like imprisoning and torturing me?"

She'd meant it as a joke, but the blood drained from Ed's face as though sucked it out through a hose. His face twisted, and he looked as though he might throw up.

"Hey, take it easy," Angel hastened to reassure him. "It was just a joke – but obviously, my delivery sucked."

Ed was reeling. Just a joke?

"Don't...don't joke about stuff like that..." he managed to croak out.

The idea that he could ever willing cause Winry pain, that he could ever truly, intentionally hurt her... it was appalling.

Angel felt chagrined at his response. It was obvious 'Winry' had meant a lot to Ed, if he found the idea of deliberately inflicting pain on her so utterly disgusting.

"There is one possibility..." Roy mused, making Angel turn to him. "Have you ever considered hypnosis?"

"Hypnosis?" Angel repeated.

"Isn't that dangerous," Al piped up.

But Jade was nodding, "Yes...yes, that would work! It would let the mind relive it, without subjecting the body to that kind of stress. And if it ever got too much, we could pull you out of it. Angel...this might actually work!"

Angel knew her eyes had lit up. "Really? I mean, you just said, but..." she addressed the room in general, "Do any of you know any hypnotists?"

Roy nodded. "She's an old friend of mine, I'll give her a call."

_'She?'_ Riza couldn't help thinking, feeling a bolt of jealousy deep in her gut. Just her luck that she would fall in love with the 'playboy' who would gladly come on to any woman in the world except for her. Yes, he cared about her...but she knew he didn't care about her in _that way_. That would be far too much to hope for.

"So, I'll wander back here in...how long?" Angel asked, her head cocked to the side in an exaggerated gesture of confusion.

Roy shrugged. "Don't know what her schedule will be."

"But we kinda have to get moving," Angel said, "So when you want me to come back here, just come find me."

"How?" Ed asked.

"Go down Kline Street in the industrial area, just in front of the textiles factory is a drain cover. If you pull that up and climb down the ladder, you'll see a crack in the wall. You just have to go through it."

"Go through it?" Riza said, mild disquiet in her voice.

"Trust me, you'll understand when you get there."


	13. November 5th to November 7th

**Chapter 13**

**November 5th – November 7th**

_November 5th – Military Headquarters, Central_

Roy picked up the phone, flicking through his notebook to find Clara's number. Once locating it, he dialed, and was swiftly answered.

"Hello? This is Clara Stanton speaking."

"Hey, Clara, it's Roy."

"Hey, it's good to hear from you, how's things on your end?"

"I need a favour."

"What kind?"

"There's a girl who has some repressed memories, and we were wondering if you could give us a hand with recovering them."

"Hypnosis, huh?"

"Exactly."

"I can be there by the seventh, how's that?"

"Perfect."

"See you then – I'll rock up to your office about ten."

Roy sighed as he hung up the phone. He and Clara were old friends, and had often enjoyed playful flirting in the past, but he wasn't sure he could keep that up when she was here. Nowadays, he had to picture Riza standing in front of him to summon even a half-hearted urge to flirt with a woman, not matter how appealing.

Another sigh. Roy was self-aware enough to realise that he was so far gone over Riza that it bordered on pathetic. But what could he do about it? Every iota of logic in his brain told him that people like Riza simply didn't fall for people like him.

It didn't stop him from having his fantasies, though.

**oooooooo**

_November 6th – Kline Street Sewer, Central_

"You think this is it?" Ed asked Al.

The crack in the bricks was obvious, but Ed just didn't see how they were going to squeeze through...especially Al.

"Well, there's really only one way to find out," Al pointed out.

"Right."

Ed turned sideways, trying to shimmy through the crack. His progress was a lot easier than he would have thought, and even Al didn't seem to be having too much trouble.

**oooooooo**

_November 6th – Hidden Cellar, Central_

The sudden explosion of space was a shock. There had been no gradual opening of the tight passage, just suddenly open air around him as though he had crawled through the neck of a champagne bottle.

And he couldn't help gaping.

A white fire burning in the middle of the cellar filled it with flickering light, and dozens of people moved through the alcoves, laughing and talking, some sitting by the fire and eating.

Upon their entry, everyone fell silent, tense and ready to fight.

"Take it easy," Jade said, pushing through their ranks. "These are the guys I was telling you about – the ones who might be able to help Angel regain her memories."

Ed was surprised by how accepting of this the people were, simply shrugging and going back to what they were doing, with only the occasional suspicious eye turned in their direction.

"Angel's up there," Jade grinned, pointing upwards.

Ed and Al both gaped. Winry was perched on one of the rafters, about fifty feet above their heads, and doing a handstand on it!

"That's dangerous!" Al yelped.

At almost the same time, Ed asked indignantly, "You guys let her go up there?"

Jade turned a harsh stare on both of them. "We don't '_let_' Angel do anything."

"But she's-"

"You must understand one thing," Jade continued, overriding Ed's protests, "To you, she may be Winry Rockbell, teenaged mechanic and childhood friend..."

She shook her head. "But down here, with us...she is Angel. And to us, she is saviour and crusader, leader, guardian and protector. She does not look to us, _we_ look to _her_."

"My ears are burning..." a voice sang out from above.

Ed looked up. Winry was sitting on the narrow beam, her legs dangling from the edge and her wings hanging lazily off the other side.

Jade mock-frowned at her. "It's rude to eavesdrop!"

Winry shrugged, "But how else am I ever going to learn what people _really_ think of me."

"Are you going to come down and greet your guests, oh exalted leader?"

Ed's heart almost stopped in his chest when Winry simply slid off the beam and allowed gravity to take her plummeting to the floor. But her wings spread open, slowing her fall like a parachute, and she landed on the ground as gracefully as a ballerina.

Angel grinned at the astonishment on Ed and Al's faces. It was strange – you wouldn't think a suit of armour could make expressions, and yet...

"Hey guys, what's up?"

"You know that hypnosis thing we were discussing? Well, they've set a date."

"Really, when?"

"Tomorrow," Al cut in, "About ten o'clock."

"I'll be there."

**oooooooo**

_November 7th – Military Headquarters, Central_

Roy couldn't stop fidgeting.

He'd had a nightmare last night – a particularly bad one. He'd been back in the Fuhrer's office, only this time, Wrath had followed through on his threat. He'd been forced to watch as Riza shot herself, her blood painting the walls and floor.

Even when he'd awoken, Roy had run to the bathroom, to wash away the feeling of her blood splattered across his cheek.

Where the hell was she? It was almost fifteen minutes after Riza should have been in.

_'Calm down!'_ Roy told himself firmly. _'You're worrying, calm down. You've been on your best behaviour with the Fuhrer, he has no reason to...to hurt her...'_

But...what if he did? What if Roy had done something to antagonise him, even something he was unaware of?

The panic rose again, and this time Roy leapt from his seat and began pacing.

_'Calm down, calm down...she's probably just run into some kind of delay or something, just calm down.'_

But what if she hadn't? What if the reason she hadn't turned up yet was because...?

"No!" Roy yelled, as though the sound of his voice would drown out the image of Riza lying dead on the floor of her apartment.

That was it. Roy was going to check on her.

But he'd hardly made it to the door before it opened, and Riza strode in.

"Sir, I apologise for my-"

Riza never finished her sentence. She found herself engulfed in Roy's arms as he pulled her into his chest. For a moment, she stiffened with utter surprise, and considered pulling away. But she couldn't – it felt too good.

But however exhilarating it was to have his arms around her, it didn't stop her wondering what had brought this on.

"Sir?"

"Don't...don't scare me like that, Hawkeye," Roy rasped out, feeling a little foolish that he had gotten so worked up for nothing.

"Sir?"

He took a deep breath to summon the will to release her. The open air hit his body where hers had rested, and he tried ignore the profound sense of loss as he settled back at his desk.

**oooooooo**

_November 7th – Military Headquarters, Central_

Angel had been sure to arrive right as the clock struck ten. As before, Earnest and Jade had tagged along for the ride, and Angel was glad they were here. Of all of the people in their little group, she felt the closest to these two.

She'd been introduced to Clara, a pretty brunette with blue eyes and a nice smile. Angel guessed she'd be in her late twenties. Or early thirties, if she'd aged well.

Clara had flirted with the Colonel, but every time Roy replied with even a hint of flirtatiousness, Angel had felt that jangling, creeping sensation that signaled a lie. He was forcing himself to flirt with her. Angel wasn't sure why, but she was certain she wasn't just imagining the way Riza Hawkeye's lips thinned every time he flirted with Clara.

_'Is something going on between the Colonel and his Lieutenant?'_ she wondered, _'They do seem to be giving out those vibes that scream sexual tension...'_

Angel gave a mental shrug. It really wasn't any of her business.

"So, what do I have to do?"

"Just lie down," Clara said, "The couch will do."

Angel did so. "Next?"

"Just relax."

"Uh..." Angel was stuck. She could never relax while her wings were retracted, it was an effort to keep them hidden. But could she let this woman know what she really was?

Angel paused for a moment and examined that thought. What harm would it do? When it came down to it, few people would believe that Clara had seen a girl with wings on her back. And if it ever reached Mangeli's ears...

_'Just let him try something,'_ Angel thought viciously. _'Just let him!'_

"Don't be shocked, okay?" Angel told Clara, beginning to reach behind her.

"Why would I be...Oh my..."

In one swift movement, Angel had let her shirt fall open and released her wings. Clara stared, gaping at the enormous white feathers.

There was a tense silence, until Clara spoke again. "Well...they don't call you Angel for nothing, do they?"

Angel laughed. "I like to think my name is at least partly deserved."

"Well, uh...can you lay on your back with those things?"

Angel proceeded to do just that, sprawling on the couch, smiling at the slightly bemused expressions on the faces around her.

"No matter how many times I see that," Jade said, shaking her head, "It never fails to amaze me that you don't tangle your wings."

"They're just like limbs," Angel defended. "I mean, you guys don't tangle your legs up when you lie down, do you?"

"Okay," Clara said, "Now I want you focus on my hands first..."

Angel tried to follow the woman's instructions as she prepared to be sent into a hypnotic trance.


	14. November 7th

**Chapter 14**

**November 7th**

_AN: In this chapter, Winry's flashbacks are in italics, and anything in italics normally will be in the default style. Just to clear that up. And thanks goes to LaughingAstarael, who was kind enough to look this over. I know the first two sections are fairly weak, but I felt like posting this anyway._

**oooooooo**

_November 7th – Military Headquarters, Central_

Ed watched as Clara sent Winry in what she called a 'hypnotic sleep', and began trying to direct her to remember her life before she became Angel.

"I want to think far back into your memories, all the way back to your March 21st of this year."

Winry's face didn't flicker, and after a beat, Clara asked, "Who are you?"

To Ed's surprise, Winry's voice rang through the room, not sounding blurred or sleepy in the slightest, "I'm Winry Sara Rockbell."

"How old are you?"

"I'm turning seventeen this very day."

"Good, now I want you to just relax, and allow yourself to remember what happened. What happened that day, and everything after it. Don't tell me, just let the memories seep back to you. Just let it happen."

Winry's face relaxed into utter serenity, with a little bit of happiness and satisfaction. Then her brow creased, her hand twitched, and she looked sad. Then it passed, and this time she actually smiled in her trance. But then the frown returned, only this time Ed thought he could detect a hint of fear in her expression. She began to twitch and jerk, and her mouth opened on a silent snarl of rage and determination, which quickly melted into a grimace of pain and fear.

Earnest and Jade were beginning to become distressed, and Al couldn't help asking, "Is this hurting her?"

Clara held up a hand for silence. "She's working through her memories, it's best to just leave her do it. As little outside influence as possible. She will feel what she felt at the time, so I'm afraid that if there was pain involved, then yes, she will feel pain. But it will only last as long as the memory does, and there will be no ill effects when she wakes up."

So everyone sat silently for what seemed to Ed like hours, watching Winry on the couch, watching her twitch and jerk like an epileptic patient as she worked through her memories. There were no smiles on her face now. With the occasional flash of rage, fear and pain were the main expressions on her features.

It broke Ed's heart to even contemplate what she must have suffered. He wanted to go to her, to hold her hand...but he was afraid of breaking her out of her trance.

He had no idea how long they sat in silence, how long Winry tossed and turned and snarled. But then, almost instantaneously, everything began to get worse. Winry thrashed, bucked, flailed, her mouth opening on a horrific wailing scream.

And she wasn't stopping. If anything, her movements and vocalisations intensified, testimony to the horrors she must have endured.

_'To hell with this!'_ Ed thought, rushing to her side.

Clara leapt forward, looking alarmed. "That's enough, you'll break out of it when I count to two. One, two!"

As though someone had shut off an electric current, Winry went limp, her face lax, her breathing beginning to even out. Her eyelids fluttered, and Ed held his breath.

Had it worked?

Her eyes opened. She blinked twice, once hard, once gentle. Then she saw him.

"Hey, Ed," she whispered.

And Ed knew she had remembered. Winry was back.

"I...I have to...can you give me a minute?" Winry was already up and walking towards the door, her wings vanishing into her body as she reattached the back of her shirt.

"I..." Ed began, not entirely sure what he was going to say.

But the door shut behind her before he could finish.

**oooooooo**

_November 7th – Military Headquarters, Central_

Winry sat on the balcony, her legs dangling through the railings. She stared out at the sky, watching the clouds, letting her mind drift.

She'd only just remembered who she was, after several months as the rescuer/leader of a group of refugees who were waging a crusade against the man who'd imprisoned them.

It was a lot to take in.

Especially the memories that had just flashed behind her eyelids.

**oooooooo**

March 21st – Rockbell Automail, Risembool

_Winry had no idea what had happened. One minute she was cheerfully celebrating her birthday, the next, the air was filled with screams._

_She and Pinako pelted to the door, bolting it on instinct as a loud thump signaled a heavy body flinging itself against the unyielding wood. They backed away, Winry's mind racing._

_What could she do? What could she do?_

_The door suddenly splintered and gave way, and Winry screamed as a large, dark form collided with her grandmother, dropping her to the floor._

"_GRANNY!"_

_Winry didn't think about it. She snatched her wrench from the table and flung it. The collision with the beast's skull did almost nothing, and when it turned, Winry couldn't keep herself from screaming again._

_It looked like it must have been human once, but now it walked on all fours, it's limbs hideously mutated. It's skin was slate-grey, it's nose elongated into some kind of trunk. And it was about the size of a horse._

_She screamed again, the urge to run grappling with the urge to stay and defend her grandmother._

_She never got a chance to do either._

_Something seized her from behind. Something with thick, hairy arms the size of tree trunks. Winry bucked and thrashed, but the iron-grip on her shoulders didn't show the slightest sign of buckling._

_The movement was so fast she could have sworn her vision blurred. One moment she was being held like a reeled-in fish, the next she had been thrown into the back of a truck._

_She hit the floor on her stomach and flipped over almost instantly, rushing for the fast-closing door. But she was too late, and she struck the metal with a bone-jarring thump before being hurled back to the floor by the force of her run._

_And it was only then she realised there were other people in with her. All fairly young – not one of them over thirty – and looking as terrified as she felt._

_She recognised her friends, and made her way over to them. Nelly, Laura, Tanya and Kim parted their huddled circle to make room for her. She opened her mouth, but whatever she had been going to say died in her throat as she felt the truck spring to life beneath them, throwing every occupant to the side as it turned._

_As though that had been a signal, everyone suddenly began wailing and screaming, panicking and racing around the enclosed space like mice after a cat had been let loose. Winry was jostled from one side to the other violently as people tore around their prison, shrieking and smashing their fists against the walls. A small boy went down under the press of bodies, and on instinct, Winry threw herself over him, bracing for the impact._

_A knee in the back drove the breath from her body, and she couldn't even make a move to defend herself as she was trampled and pummeled unmercifully._

_But when she did get her breath back, she made sure she was heard._

"_EVERYONE, JUST SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME!"_

_On instinct, everyone froze. Winry got to her feet, wincing all the way, and helped the boy underneath her to his feet. She looked around at the pitiful group surrounding her and addressed them, her voice brisk and business-like. Commanding._

"_Now, it doesn't take a genius to see that we are in a lot of trouble, but yelling and screaming about it isn't going to help."_

_Scattered nods, and Winry was rather disconcerted to realise they were all looking to her for directions._

"_First, we need to determine if it's possible to escape from this truck, I want everyone circling this place, looking for any possible weak points, okay?"_

_Again, everyone moved on her command. They spent at least half an hour looking over every inch of the truck's interior, and the only possible weakness they could exploit was the seam where the door joined the walls._

_So, with Winry's direction, they'd taken turns throwing themselves at that very seam. She wished they had some kind of tools or something, but at the moment, all they could use was brute strength._

_They'd only just managed to dent the door when the truck rattled to a stop. Everyone instantly bolted to the back of the truck, as far from the door as they could get. Stomach churning, Winry squared her shoulders and prepared for whatever the opening door might reveal..._

_Whatever she had expected, a middle-aged man with greying hair wasn't it._

"_Come on!" he barked, "Move, now!"_

_**oooooooo**_

March 21st – Location Unknown

_Winry kept her eyes on the ground, reasoning that if she didn't look at the hideous monsters , then her fear wouldn't need to shoot through the roof. And overblown panic made it very difficult to keep a level head, something she was going to need if she had any hope of ever getting out of here._

_It seemed that the truck had somehow managed to get underground. How, she wasn't too sure, but Winry was convinced that the sleek metal walls were underground – maybe because of the complete lack of windows._

_The entire truckload were hustled into a large, white room, and ordered to remove their clothes. Winry shed her garments, trying to control the instinctive cringe as her body was exposed. She squared her shoulders and raised her head, but kept her gaze fixed on the opposite wall._

'Keep it together! Remember, he can only take your dignity if you give it to him.'

_Icy sprays of water suddenly shot from jets on the wall and ceiling. Winry nearly shrieked as the cold water hit her skin, and cries of surprise erupted around her. She didn't move, simply stood in her place, eyes shut against the water and tolerating the spartan wash._

_The jets shut off and one man was suddenly separated and shoved through a door at the far end. The man followed him in, and for several moments, no one moved, everyone just stood naked and dripping on the tiles and wondering what was going on._

_Winry briefly considered making a run for it, but one look at the creatures surrounding them dispelled that notion before it was even fully-formed. There was nothing to do but stand and wait. Wait for whatever fate would befall them._

_Winry detested waiting. Each second that went by seemed to make her more and more nervous, her nerves stretching as though they were on a rack. When the door opened a second time, Winry almost bolted to it, desperate for something to happen, for the waiting to stop..._

_But then she realised the man hadn't come out with him. _

'Okay, that guy was taken into a room that he did not exit from. It's either very, very bad, or very, very good. And I'm leaning towards very, very bad. Time to rethink the game plan, Winry.'

_But what game plan. She'd never had one in the first place! What was she going to do, what would happen now?_

'Easy, Winry, easy. Deep breath in...and let it. In...out...in...out. Focus on your breathing, don't focus on how fucked up this whole situation is fast becoming...'

_Strange...she'd never said 'fucked' before, even in her internal monologues. _

_The number of people dwindled, and Winry was still focusing on her breathing. Her friends were still with her, so that was some comfort, at least...until she was the one being shoved through the doorway._

_It wasn't quite as bad as she expected. The room was white and sterile, the overhead light bright and harsh. Shelves lined the room, a table at one end, and a chair in the center. She was directed to sit in it, and she sat, trying to control her trembling. Where had her courage gone? She'd had plenty to spare in the truck, where was it when she needed it?_

_She nearly screamed when her hair was grabbed from behind, but saw the glint of a blade and forced herself to hold still. The last thing she needed was to lose an ear because she decided to fight back now._

_Winry had to bit her lip to stave off the urge to cry as her hair was shaved off at the scalp. She could feel the loose locks slithering off her shoulders and neck, and she watched as stray strands drifted to the floor. It had taken her years, _years_, to grow her hair out, and now..._

_When he had finished, he tossed her hair onto a shelf and forced her out another door. Winry went, her panic having faded to a detached numbness, as though she were watching herself from a great distance. Or as though she were watching someone who wasn't really her._

_She was thrown into a cell so roughly her shoulder scraped the floor. It hurt, and she slowly crawled into a sitting position, curling in on herself, trying absorb what had just happened. The cell was bare of anything save a toilet, and the walls were shining steel. But there were only three walls – the one facing the corridor consisted only of vertical bars. On the far wall, two numbers daubed in black paint towered over her, a one and a five. _

_They just made her feel smaller than she already was._

_She ran a hand over her head, again mourning the loss of her hair. There wasn't even fuzz left – just bald, smooth skin._

_Winry didn't know how much time had passed before Nelly joined her in the cell. Slowly, the others began to trickle in after her, Tanya...Laura...Kim..._

_Winry didn't fail to notice that her cell mates happened to be her closest friends in Risembool. She couldn't help wondering if it was just coincidence, or if there was something more?_

_No one spoke, and after a while, Winry curled up on the floor and tried to sleep._

_**oooooooo**_

Date Unknown – Location Unknown

_One day – at least, Winry assumed it was day, with the lights on all the time and only snatches of sleep on the floor, she had lost track of time long ago – he took Laura. He took her from the cell...and she didn't return._

_They waited...and waited. When they were fed, it was only in four bowls, but they saved some for her anyway. It was strange, but they hadn't spoken a word since they had been thrown in here. As though, even after all this time, they were afraid to speak, afraid to accept their situation...or afraid to admit they _had_ accepted it._

_Winry didn't know, and some part of her simply didn't care. It was enough of an effort just to keep her sanity in this place, where all she could do was stare at the bare walls or the dead eyes of her friends, all she could hear was people screaming and sobbing from the cells next to them, and all she knew was that she was either going to die, or become one of the monsters that stalked these halls in obedience to her captor's whim._

_They waited, but Laura never came back._

_**oooooooo**_

Date Unknown – Location Unknown

_Tanya was taken next. One day they woke up, and she was gone. Just gone._

_They knew what had happened, but still...they waited. They saved their food and water, they peered down the corridor, looking for when she'd return._

_And this time, they were rewarded._

_Tanya was thrown back in, and Winry reacted, catching her and breaking her fall. She eased the girl's limp form down to the ground, licked her lips, and spoke._

"_What happened?"_

_It was the first time any of them had spoken since being placed in this cell. The words rang slightly off the metal walls, then were swallowed by the silence._

_Winry was just beginning to regret speaking when Tanya answered._

"_I don't know...he injected me with something...it hurt," she confessed, the way a toddler might confess she'd scraped her knee._

"_It's okay," Winry soothed, her voice scratchy from disuse. "It's okay..."_

_**oooooooo**_

Date Unknown – Location Unknown

_But it soon became apparent that it was not okay. Tanya began throwing up. Her skin felt hot to the touch – fever – and she began coughing._

_The day she choked, heaved, and coughed blood onto the floor, was the day that Winry realised that nothing was ever going to be okay again._

_**oooooooo**_

Date Unknown – Location Unknown

_Winry watched their captor and his creatures drag away Tanya's body, and for the first time thought that there might be some anger left in her. She'd thought her imprisonment had beaten everything out of her but the urge to survive._

_Apparently not._

_Just as the man was leaving the cell, Winry's anger – repressed, strangled, and smothered for far too long – finally exploded, like a volcanic eruption._

_She lunged for the man, her hands going straight for his neck. The element of surprise was on her side, and she managed to knock him down and wrap her hands around his throat. But she had only begun to apply pressure before he reached up and touched the wall._

_The blaze of light that always accompanied alchemy seared Winry's eyes, and she saw the wall warp._

'But he didn't draw a circle! He didn't even clap his hands!'_ was all she thought before a slender rod of steel shot from the wall and smashed into her head._

_The world went dark before Winry's eyes, and her body went lax as she fought desperately not to black out._

_She was dimly aware of the door closing, of Nelly and Kim gathering around her, trying to help her. When her sight began to melt back, she managed to sit up again, feeling the bruise forming on the side of her head. Her hair was now only the finest gold stubble, and didn't hinder her exploration._

_She decided that, though it hurt, she probably didn't have a concussion._

'Lucky,'_ she told herself. _'Very lucky...'

_She didn't feel lucky, though. Not in the slightest._

_**oooooooo**_

Date Unknown – Location Unknown

_Sometimes, Winry wondered what it would be like to die. Would it hurt? Sometimes, in the harsh light of the cell, she contemplated suicide – kill herself before he could, right?_

_But she could never quite go through with it. After Tanya had disappeared while they slept, they posted a watch – one awake while the other two slept. _

_So, when he came for Kim, they had some warning, at least._

_They tried to stop him, but stood so little chance against him and his creatures that Winry might have laughed, but she wasn't sure she was even capable of laughter anymore. It seemed like it had been years since she'd even smiled._

_Nelly was knocked down, and her back was scraped open on the floor. Winry was caught in the shoulder by one of the creatures claws, and dropped like a stone._

_Kim was taken, and never returned._

_The food and water arrived, and Winry took some of her share and splashed it on the deep gashes the claws had opened it her flesh. Maybe it would get infected. Maybe she'd get gangrene. Maybe she'd die._

_Without the slightest flicker in her expression, Winry kept washing it._

_**oooooooo**_

Date Unknown – Location Unknown

_Time passed, though Winry could never say how much. The voices of around their cell diminished, new voices took their place, and still she and Nelly hadn't been taken._

_Sometimes, she wondered what they were waiting for, but mostly Winry simply lay on the floor and stared at the ceiling, trying to pretend she was somewhere else. Trying to escape in her memories._

'Remember Ed? Remember the day I realised I loved him? Pity I'll never get to tell him...'

'Remember Al? Remember the day he pretended to be a lizard and lay on that rock in the sun all day. He got so sunburnt...'

'Remember Granny? Remember the day she got me that wrench for my birthday? Poor Ed probably wishes that never happened...'

Remember Den? Remember the day I got him? I picked out the smallest puppy in the litter, though you wouldn't know it, the size he is now...'

'Remember Paninya? Remember how she stole Ed's watch and he chased her across the town? And then I only grabbed her because I wanted a look at her automail...'

'Remember Garfiel? Remember the day he took you on as an apprentice? He's a bit weird, but always so nice...'

_In her memories, she didn't hurt, didn't fear. There was only the happiness of what had been, tainted with the bitterness of the knowledge that it could never be again._

_In her memories, she was safe._

_**oooooooo**_

Date Unknown – Location Unknown

_When they came to take Nelly, the pair fought even more savagely than they had when they took Kim. It was like that single spark of defiance had ignited a bonfire._

_Winry went straight for the man again, but this time, he was ready. The blow sent her into a wall, but she ruthlessly pushed her pain away, already regaining her feet even as Nelly was being dragged from the cell, kicking and punching._

_The creature knocked her into the bars so hard her ears rang. Her shoulder sagged, and it was all she could do to groan in protest as Nelly was dragged away. As soon as the fuzziness cleared from her senses, Winry sprang to her feet, shouting and slamming her hands against the bars...except that her left arm wouldn't respond._

_She looked, seeing the shoulder and arm drooping unnaturally._

_She'd dislocated her shoulder. But she'd barely felt it...she must be in shock._

_Winry took a deep breath, and grabbed her arm. She really wasn't looking forward to this, but it had to be done. Her still-functioning hand re-positioned her shoulder, and she drove it into the wall._

_Pain exploded down the limb. Bile rose in her throat, and Winry fought not to throw up as she felt the ball joint pop back into the socket._

_She slumped to the floor, now utterly alone in the barren cell. At least her arm could still function, that way, if they tried to take her as well, she could at least put up something of a fight..._

_And in was then, in that split second, when Winry realised something._

_Her fear had gone, replaced by a dull sense of despair and resignation._

_She was no longer afraid of dying._

_**oooooooo**_

Date Unknown – Location Unknown

_Winry sometimes wondered what was happening in the outside world, but not often. It hurt too much. Here was where she was, and here was were she was likely to stay._

_At least until she died. And some part of Winry knew it was going to happen – she was going to die here, and she was fairly sure it was going to be messy and painful._

_It wasn't a pleasant prospect, but she had finally accepted there was precious little she do about it. She had no hope of escape, no hope of rescue...all she truly hoped for was to put up a good fight. She wasn't go to go easy – if he killed her, she was going to go out kicking and screaming._

_Not that she didn't have regrets. She had plenty of them, and it didn't do to dwell on them, not now. It couldn't be helped now. She'd scratched words into the black paint on the wall – her birth date, her initials, the year she assumed they were still in...and she scratched, until her fingernails tore and bled, until the words of her own silent vow to herself were etched into the wall._

_She might die here, but she refused to become his puppet._

_She was always afraid to go to sleep, now. Afraid that they would take her while she slept, while she was unable to put up a fight..._

_But her body demanded rest. Winry curled into a small ball in the corner, and closed her eyes._

_**oooooooo**_

Date Unknown – Location Unknown

_Winry woke with a start, and realised several things at once. Firstly, that she was chained, face-down, to the floor. Secondly, she was in a room she had never been in before. Thirdly, that the man was in the room with her – she could hear him muttering and taking things off the shelves that lined the walls._

_For a moment, Winry froze. This was happening, this was really happening...she was going to die, here, now..._

_His hand touched her back, and the blaze of alchemical light filled the room._

_Pain rocketed through her body. Agony as she had never known it – it was as though her blood boiled, as though something tried to explode from beneath her skin, and Winry writhed and screamed as though she were being electrocuted. Her mind felt like it would rip apart beneath the onslaught, and she was sure she was going to die. No one could endure this much pain and live..._

_Something was trying to force its way into her, and Winry tensed, trying to resist even through the pain, the pain and the fear and the terrible, twisting sensation as her body warped._

_She was engulfed in a tornado of fire, and bright light spun before her eyes like a Catherine Wheel._

_And suddenly, Winry wasn't in the lab anymore._

_**oooooooo**_

Date Unknown – Location Unknown

_She didn't know where she was, but it was definitely somewhere she'd never been before. Somewhere 'Else', with a capital E._

_The whole place was white, suffused with light. A door was in front of her, strange carvings littering its surface...but what was strangest was that the door seemed to hovering several inches off what she perceived as the ground._

_Everything was silent. Silent and empty._

_Where the hell was she? Was she dead? Was this the 'afterlife' that people spoke of?_

_She looked down at herself...yep, still naked. She felt her hair...still just a short fuzz. The only real difference was that the pain wracking her entire body seemed to have melted away._

_What was going on?_

_Winry walked up to the towering doorway, idly tapping on it with her fingers. She nearly jumped away at the texture of the material – it was all textures at once, smooth and rough, hard and soft, steel and water._

"_Where the hell am I?" Winry asked aloud, throwing her arms up in exasperation._

"You are at the Gate," _a voice said from behind her. A voice that was both young and ancient, male and female, a voice that seemed to reverberate within her soul._

_Winry nearly screamed, spinning around, her hands coming up to cover her body, the nearly-forgotten sensation of embarrassment washing through her._

_But as soon as she turned around, her state of undress was forgotten. She'd apparently been addressed by what looked like a human made of light, smoky shadows lining it's body, it's entire form seemingly without features except for the right arm and left leg, which seemed no different from a normal human's._

"_Who...?" Winry managed to whimper, utterly stunned by what was happening. "Am I...am I dead?"_

"No,"_ the figure said, _"But you are close."

"_Close?"_

"You are on the border. The damage to your body is such that you cannot live, but your spirit will stubbornly cling to life for as long as it can."

_Winry blinked. "Who are you?"_

"Some call me 'Truth',"_ the figure replied._ "To others, I am 'God'. Or 'the universe', 'the world'..."

"_Truth will do fine..." Winry whimpered, reeling slightly. _

_What was this creature?_

"_What are you?"_

"A rather more difficult question, and I doubt that you would truly understand the answer. So let us skip right to the business at hand, shall we?"

_But Winry was eyeing the flesh and blood limbs suspiciously. "How come those are different?"_

_A shrug, or what looked like one. _"I thought the presence of something familiar might reassure you."

_Presence? Familiar? What was familiar about a right arm and left leg?_

_But suddenly, Winry knew. "Those are..." she wet her lips, hardly able to believe what she saying, "Those are Ed's limbs, aren't they?"_

_A nod._

_And Winry flipped out. Far from reassuring, her fear seemed to have trebled. Where was she, that Ed's lost limbs could manifest here? What was this creature, that it could use them?_

"_That is not reassuring!" she yelped, skittering away, her voice hysterically. "That is just downright creepy!"_

"You would prefer I was without them?"

"_Yes!"_

_The limbs vanished, replaced by the strange, solid-looking light, and Winry tried to slow her breathing._

"_What do you want? Why did you want to...reassure me...in the first place?"_

"I decided it might put you in a better frame of mind, making you more susceptible to my bargain."

"_Your bargain?"_

"Indeed. I believe you want a chance to stop the man who did this to you?"

_Winry's eyes narrowed. "And you'll just give me a chance? No questions asked?"_

"Of course not! You and I have a similar problem, and I am simply offering a solution to both."

'Yeah, with me doing your dirty work,'_ Winry thought. But out loud, she said, "Talk."_

_It may have just been here, but she got the impression the creature didn't like being ordered around. She could hear the irritation in it's voice as it spoke again._

"This," _it gestured expansively around, _"Is my domain. And I do not take kindly to people stealing from it. However, three people have taken from me, taken from the Gate...and used it to ignore my influence."

"_Influence?"_

"Yes, my influence, the fundamental law that I enforce. The law of Equivalent Exchange...you have heard of it?"

_Winry knew her jaw had dropped. "Equivalent Exchange...alchemy, right?" she managed to squeak out._

"Correct. And now there are three who have taken from me and defied me."

"_Wait a minute," Winry said, raising her hand as though to ward off the realisation of what was happening here. When did her life become some bad sci-fi novel? "I know next to nothing about alchemy...so you'll have to explain from the top."_

"Very well,"_ there was that note of mild irritation again._ "These are the Gates of Truth, and to see inside them enables an alchemist to perform alchemy by simply clapping their hands. However, this is always bought at a price, and no alchemist can see the Gate without having attempted human transmutation."

'That's what must have happened to Ed!' _Winry realised._

"However, some went through the Gate, and seized one of my...the closest approximation in your language would be 'daemon'. And this allowed them certain liberties...liberties that I will not tolerate any longer!"

"_So..." Winry began cautiously. "Where do I come in?"_

"I am capable of manifesting in the physical realm, but only if I have a human's limbs to anchor myself to, and even then I am incapable of translating my powers across the gap between the physical and the metaphysical. But...if I were to imbue a human – already anchored to the physical realm – with a seed of my powers..."

"_I get it," Winry interrupted. "You'll give me this 'seed', bring me back to life, and I'm meant to just go around doing your dirty work?"_

"Listen to me!" _the creature hissed, in what could only be described as a snarl. Winry thought she even saw the shadows of teeth. _"Yes, I will give you the seed, yes, I will bring you back to life..."

"_Why me?" Winry interrupted again. "There have been plenty of people who've died from these experiments – what makes me so special?"_

"Many died, yes, and those that – like you – had the will to survive were taken over by the essence of the daemon. It is the only way a human will survive the process, but it meant that I could not reach them. I had to wait for someone who could not only survive the initial transmutation, but whose soul was strong enough to stave off the daemon's essence until I could reach them."

"_And that's me?"_

"In all of his four hundred and twelve experiments, you were the only one who was strong enough to hold yourself on the border of life and death, and resist the daemon's essence at the same time."

_Winry digested that for a moment. "So...you said there were three...who will I have to go after?"_

"Mangeli, the man who did this to you, a man called Father, and another called Hohenheim."

'That's Ed's father!' _Winry thought. She mulled the possibilities over in her mind before asking, "Will it...hurt them?"_

"Not if they accept it," _Truth said. _"But I doubt any of them will."

"_Okay...I'll do it!" Winry nodded. "But what do I get in return?"_

"I'm giving you the ability to live through this!" _Truth hissed._ "I'm saving your life, that should be payment enough!"

"_You want me to track down these people, you need me alive, so you're really helping yourself on both counts," Winry pointed out. "So I'll need more of an incentive than that."_

_Another almost growl._ "If I didn't need you-"

"_But you do. You said it yourself – out of over four hundred, I'm the only one you could use. Do you want to take the chance that someone else will come along?"_

_Truth let out what sounded like a snarling sigh. _"Very well, what do you want in exchange?"

_Winry didn't hesitate. "The return of Alphonse Elric's body, and Edward Elric's limbs."_

"No. You ask too much – you cannot have both."

"_That's a pretty tall order, considering what I'm doing for you."_

"With the seed of the Gate inside you, you will hardly find it difficult."

"_Okay, I'm willing to concede on this point. Just Alphonse's body, then." Winry had a feeling Ed had long-since forgotten his vow to restore his own limbs, anyway._

"Deal,"_ Truth nodded, holding out it's hand._

_After a moment of suspicion, Winry slipped her fingers over it's palm, ready to shake hands..._

_Except something passed into her skin like an electric shock. The jolt made her snatch her hand back on reflex, her whole mind reeling from the sensation of _something_ darting into her body like a fox into it's burrow._

_It was as though she were seeing inside her body, from somewhere apart from herself. She could see a bright seed of white light travel up her arm, coil in the center of her chest...and then explode. Bright white light seemed to wash through her body, filling every cell of her being, every nook and cranny of her mind._

_Then it dimmed to a glow, then a faint fizz, then finally faded away. But she knew it was still within her. Her skin felt tight, as though it was too small to contain whatever had just been poured into her. Her mind, too, felt strange, like an encyclopedia had been jammed into her head, and all she needed to do was turn the pages to unlock its knowledge._

"_What...?" she gasped out, "What...was that?"_

"The seed of the Gate, and the knowledge of what you must do with your power," _Truth explained, _"And one more thing..."

_It reached up to her shorn head, and ran it's hands over her scalp. It was like being touched by warm mist. The light fingers traversed the curve of her skull, before dropping through the air to her waist._

_And her hair grew after it, as though seeking the hands. A wave of long, golden locks washed down Winry's back, her hair restored to its original length._

_She yelped, putting her hands to her head, feeling thick strands of hair instead of prickly stubs._

"There, that should help those brothers recognise you."

"_Huh?" But it seemed as though Truth was preparing to send her on her way._

"_Now I send you to the field – my champion, prepared for battle. Serve me well. Become my warrior, my messenger...my angel."_

_And then Winry knew no more, sinking into the oblivion of unconsciousness._

_But this time, she would awake without memories, without dreams, nothing but the voices in her head screaming "Who am I?". _

_This time, Winry would awake to a new identity._


	15. November 7th to November 9th

**Chapter 15**

**November 7th – November 9th**

_November 7th – Military Headquarters, Central_

Winry was so involved in her memories, she almost didn't hear Ed join her on the balcony. At first, she just kept staring ahead, not sure if she was quite ready to deal with all this. Not now...if she could just put it off for a little longer...

There was a slightly uncomfortable silence, and Winry wondered about the social etiquette for this kind of situation. She couldn't come up with anything to say, so she let her actions speak for her.

Ed blinked in surprise as Winry reached over and hugged him tightly. He had expected...he didn't know what he had expected. Anger, maybe, for not rescuing her. But she was hugging him.

He held her tightly, feeling the metal beneath her shirt where her wings were concealed. A reminder of the lab that she would carry for the rest of her life. His arms tightened unconsciously.

And to his surprise, his felt his eyes beginning to grow moist. Everything had happened so quickly – learning Winry was alive, searching for her, seeing her, realising her memory wasn't coming back, getting her memory back...it had never truly hit him. But it did now. Winry was back. Her memories were restored, and she was out of the lab...Winry was back!

"You're back," he murmured, hardly able to believe it, his body quivering as he remembered his despair at the idea, so many months ago, that he would never see Winry again.

"Yeah, I'm back," Winry's voice was muffled by his neck, and there was a suspiciously wet sniffle at the end of her sentence.

"I thought...Winry, when he took you...I thought I'd never see you again."

"Ed, when I was in the lab...I thought I'd never see _you_ again..."

"You mean before..."

"Yeah...before he..."

"Winry...what happened to you?" Ed wasn't aware he'd voiced the question aloud until he saw her eyebrows lift.

"Do you really want to know?"

Ed swallowed, and nodded. For a moment, Winry was tempted to say nothing. To not tell him what had happened to her, to see how _he_ liked being kept in the dark...but her petty anger passed quickly.

She cleared her throat, and began her story.

**oooooooo**

_November 7th – Military Headquarters, Central_

Winry didn't tell Ed everything. She glossed over the nastier details, and she didn't mention her bargain with Truth. Something told her he just wouldn't handle it well. She didn't talk about her emotional response to her confinement – she just didn't feel comfortable discussing the level of despair she'd reached there, though she did mention briefly the confusion, frustration and sorrow of waking in a strange place with no memory of who you were.

"But...you're back to normal, now...right?" Ed asked warily. His heart twisted at the thought of what she'd gone through. Her descriptions had been so bland and matter-of-fact it was almost as though she was reciting a report...but he hadn't been fooled.

"I'm not 'back to normal', Ed," Winry shrugged. "I'll never be 'normal' again. And it's not just the wings, or the powers, or any of that...it's who I am."

"What do you mean?"

"Back there...I wasn't myself. Not really. I wasn't Winry, the automail mechanic...I was Angel, and I was...what did Joseph call it?" she sighed. "I think he said..._cado angelus._"

"What?"

"It mean 'fallen angel'. It comes from the saying, _'permissum angelus cado caelitus operor magis bonus hic'._ 'Let the angels fall from heaven, they can do more good down here'. And that's what I'm saying – I was everything to those people. I saved them from the labs, I led them on their crusade, I fought with them, I protected them...I became so much more than what I'd been. Do you understand?"

Thr truly terrifying thing was, Ed did understand. She had truly been Angel, and some part of her would always be Angel. Angel had led scores of people with confidence and easy leadership. Angel had been a pillar of strength in hard, unstable times.

But...hadn't Winry been like that, too? Before her capture? Had that kind of strength always dwelt within her, just waiting to be awoken?

"I was being tempered," Winry said suddenly, jolting Ed from his reverie.

"Huh?"

"It's a certain way of making swords," Winry explained. "The metal is folded, and beaten, and heated, then folded and beaten again. It's done over and over. Eventually, the end result is a blade strong enough to withstand almost anything. And that's what was happening...I was being tempered."

"That's a...very philosophical way of looking at it," Ed said cautiously. He couldn't determine her mood, and the uncertainty made him want to tread carefully.

"Yeah, well, it's that, or spend the rest of my life ranting about the lunatic who gave me _these._" Her wings snapped out so quickly Ed jumped.

"It's interesting, you know," she mused, her wings curving in front of her so she could study them. "When I was Angel, I never questioned these – couldn't remember ever being without them, I guess. But now...I just feel like a freak because I remember what I used to be like."

"Can I...can I look?" Ed asked, his voice almost a whisper.

Winry pulled back, giving him a funny look. But she understood – Ed had seen her wings, but he wanted to really _look_ at them, to examine them, the same way she did with his automail. So she turned her back to him, pulling her hair over her shoulder to give him an unobstructed view.

Ed stared at her back, almost mesmerised. Her wingspan would have easily reached ten or twelve feet across, but it wasn't the size of the wings that drew his attention.

He'd seen plenty of chimeras, but never something like this. Tucker's attempts had been monstrous, looking nothing like a human. The transmutations of Greed cohort's had been far better...almost elegant. But Winry's...

Winry's was beautiful.

In all the chimeras he'd ever seen, human and animal were tangled up in each other...indefinable, inextricable. With Winry, the transition from human to bird was as clearly defined as that from horse to man in the mythological centaurs. Her skin melded smoothly into feathers, small at first, then growing in size. Her feathers were pure, dove-white, and the variations in shape and size were exactly like a real bird's wing.

Beautiful.

He reached out and brushed lightly over the near-perfect seam between feathers and flesh, unable to stop himself. Winry shivered slightly, and he stopped immediately.

"Hurt?"

"No, it tickles."

"Winry..."

"It's not _that_ bad, is it?"

"No, Winry...it's beautiful." His voice was almost reverent, and it startled her.

"Wha-?"

"I need to show you something," he said abruptly, pulling back from her.

When Winry was gone, he'd made himself a promise. One way or another, for good or ill, she was going to know how he felt about her. He wasn't exactly sure how to bring it up, but he figured this was a good start.

Winry blinked when Ed opened his watch, holding it in front of her face. She stared, astonished. Just below the scrawl of _'Don't forget 3.Oct.11'_, he'd carved another.

_'21.Mar.16'_

"That's my birthday," she realised. "You carved my birthday into your watch."

"Yeah," Ed confirmed, feeling the beginning stages of panic. "That was the day...that was the day you were taken, and I...I..."

Whatever Ed was going to say was lost as the door behind them opened. Both teenagers jumped, turning to see Jade in the doorway.

"Angel...Winry..." Jade moistened her lips, seemingly deeply nervous. "What...what's going to happen now?"

Winry smiled, "Don't worry, Jade. We'll go back inside – I have to thank Clara – and then we'll go back to the cellar-"

"Huh?" Ed made a small sound of disbelief.

Winry turned to him, her eyes sad. "Ed...I may have my memories back, but that doesn't change what I did, what I am. To those people...I'm their leader, and that means I'm responsible for them. That doesn't change just because I got my memories back."

And as Ed watched Winry and Jade walk back into the building, a pang of...something...pierced his chest. And he began to realise...

Winry was moving beyond him.

In the past, he and Al had always been the ones to leave her behind – learning alchemy, going with Izumi to train, trying human transmutation, then leaving for the military. But now, it was Winry moving forward on her own.

Was this how Winry felt when he and Al had left? As though she were losing them, not to anything dangerous or frightening, but to themselves? That she would look at them one day and see nothing she recognised?

For that was how Ed felt now. As though Winry was suddenly, abruptly...beyond him.

**oooooooo**

_November 7th – Hidden Cellar, Central_

Winry lay in her bed, on her side, her wings spread out behind her. She told her people what had happened, who she was, and the like...and then she'd simply climbed into bed.

She needed to think.

The most prominent problem was what to do now with regards to her little group. Should she disband them? Stay with them? She didn't want to turn them away, but it felt weird to be staying with these people and not Ed and Al as well.

The next problem was herself – or her powers, to be more specific. Now that she knew the knowledge was in her head, it didn't take much to unlock them.

Most of her powers had already been discovered by experimentation. But she – 'learned' wasn't the right word, it was like she was now aware – that she had more, just waiting to be put to use.

She now knew that the dark shadow hovering over Riza was the essence of a Gate Daemon, but she wasn't quite sure what to do about it. She could always remove it – she now knew how to do that, too – but she wasn't sure if whoever implanted it in the first place would notice, or what they would do about it.

Winry had also been made aware of the ability to sense those with the Daemon's essence, or the Daemon itself within them. She'd tried it out before they left military headquarters, and been gratified to be able to sense Riza, even from all the way outside.

Something had felt odd, though. As though there was someone in military headquarters who, while they didn't have the Daemon essence, seemed...to have part of someone who carried a Daemon. It made no sense to Winry – how could someone be carrying around part of someone else?

And the last problem...what about her friends? Not those from Risembool – they had died in the laboratories – but what of Paninya? Garfiel? Granny? They'd thought her dead...what would they say when they discovered she'd survived...but had changed in the process?

With a slightly mournful sigh, Winry closed her eyes and tried to get some sleep.

**oooooooo**

_November 8th – Garfiel's Automail, Rush Valley_

"I'll get it!" Paninya called as a knock sounded on the door. She pulled it open...and nearly choked.

Winry was standing on the doorstep.

She looked just as she had when she'd left Rush Valley so many months ago...but there was still something different about her. Something in her eyes, in her face, in her bearing...all different.

"W-Winry...?"

Winry smiled, stepped forward, and hugged Paninya tightly. The darker girl returned the embrace fiercely, trying to blink away tears. Her mind hazy with relief and utter joy, some part still wondered at the texture beneath Winry's shirt – it was as though her back was made of...metal?

"Miss me, Pan?" Winry teased.

"You idiot!" Paninya muttered, thumping Winry's arms fiercely. "To make us worry like that..."

"Who was it?" Garfiel called, ambling into the front room.

His eyes landed on Winry, and teared up almost instantly. "Winry!"

Winry found herself swept into a bone-cracking hug that left her feet dangling off the ground.

**oooooooo**

_November 8th – Garfiel's Automail, Rush Valley_

Winry was beginning to get desperate. Her wings had been concealed for almost five hours now, and her back was beginning to throb.

"Uh, guys..." she said, wondering how Paninya and Garfiel would take this particular revelation. "Something happened to me while I was...well, you guys should see this."

A few quick flicks of her wrist and the back of her shirt fell away as her wings shot out, spreading wide, stretching gleefully.

Jaws didn't drop. Eyes didn't widen. In fact, both Garfiel and Paninya just seemed...frozen. If it wasn't for the steady ticking of the clock, Winry would've sworn that time had stopped.

The eerie silence prevailed, and Winry was just starting to wonder when she should start assuming they'd gone into shock, when Paninya spoke.

"Are...are those wings?"

"Yeah," Winry nodded.

"Do they...can you...?"

Winry flapped her wings, allowing them to lift her several feet off the ground before she slowly drifted back to the floor.

"Wow," Paninya said, before breaking into a huge grin.

Finding an identical shocked-astonished-pleased smile on Garfiel's face, Winry finally let herself relax.

They accepted it.

**oooooooo**

_November 9th – Rockbell Automail, Risembool_

Winry took a deep breath, and rapped her knuckles against the hard wood door. A chorus of barking came from inside, as Den alerted Pinako to her presence.

The woman who answered the door shocked Winry. For the first time she could remember, Pinako looked truly old.

"Granny?"

Pinako stared. Blinked, and still stared. She took several faltering steps towards Winry, one hand coming up to grasp her granddaughter's wrist.

"Granny?" Winry tried again. This was really starting to scare her...

"Winry?" Pinako breathed, tugging the girl down to her level and enveloping her in a hug. "Oh, Winry..."

And when Winry felt the dampness on her neck, she had to sniff back her own tears.

**oooooooo**

_November 9th – Rockbell Automail, Risembool_

Upon Winry revealing her wings, Pinako didn't freeze like Paninya and Garfiel had. True to their joint heritage – a long line of curious mechanics who just have to know how everything works – she immediately began examining the wings.

Pinako had been fascinated with the appendages, apparently surprised that they actually gifted Winry with flight and at the variations in feather patterns – just like a real bird's. Winry might have been offended at such apparently callous disregard for her feelings about them, but she knew this was just the way her grandmother was.

Curios. Just like her.

"What is this?" Pinako asked, fiddling with the elastic strap over her wings and the identical one below. Both were white, and ran straight across her back.

"That's my bra," Winry giggled. "One of my...friends...is a seamstress, and she made some for me."

"Of course," Pinako mused, "In a normal bra, the elastic strap runs across the middle of the back. But with your wings in the way, you'd need it specially made to anchor above and below the wings-"

Winry blushed. She was discussing bras with her grandmother! She made an effort to tune out the rest of Pinako's speaking, settled back, and let her grandmother fuss over her flight-feathers.

**oooooooo**

_November 9th – Train Station, Risembool_

Winry sat on the bench, waiting for her train to pull in. She had refused to let any of her people come with her on these journeys – this was...private.

And now she sat alone on the bench, having refused her grandmother's offer of seeing her off. Winry had to concentrate – she was working on sensing those with the Gate Daemons within them.

She could almost feel her consciousness expanding, spreading out like an enveloping blanket. All she was aware of was emptiness, until...a spark! A single spark in the blackness. Winry allowed herself to follow it, to approach it, to feel out its identity...

A piercing whistle jerked Winry out of the state she had fallen into, and she boarded the train with a grim smile.

She was going to find Hohenheim.


	16. November 9th to November 11th

**Chapter 16**

**November 9th – November 11th**

_November 9th – Train 6, In Transit to Dublith_

Winry wasn't returning to Central. Not yet, at least. She was hunting the spark – that spot of light in the darkness which told her where Hohenheim was.

She almost found it funny that a spark of light told her where a black shadow was.

She was getting closer and closer to the spark, and her geographical knowledge of Ametris told her Hohenheim would be somewhere near Dublith.

Risembool to Dublith was a long trip, and her back was beginning to ache. Again. Winry shifted one way, shifted another, then finally flopped onto the seat with a frustrated squeal. Nothing was helping.

She briefly considered releasing her wings for a few seconds – the carriage she was in was empty, after all – but decided against it. It would be just her luck for someone to walk in during that split second and see her wings.

**oooooooo**

_November 9th – Train Station, Dublith_

When the train finally pulled into Dublith station, Winry had never been so relieved to disembark. She bolted for the bathroom and stayed in there for fifteen minutes, allowing her wings time to stretch and relax before she pulled them back in.

If anyone thought it was unusual for a young girl to spend a quarter of an hour in the bathroom, no one commented on it.

Winry stood at the entrance to the station, and once more tried to sense the spark that told her where a Gate Daemon lay. Slightly east of her current position.

Having gotten her bearings somewhat, she headed off.

**oooooooo**

_November 9th – Dublith Central Hotel, Dublith_

Winry was only half-concentrating on where she was going. The other half was busy searching out Hohenheim.

And she'd been led to this hotel. Winry looked up at it, trying to determine where Hohenheim was. She wasn't close enough to get an accurate idea, so she entered the building, and began climbing the stairs.

**oooooooo**

_November 9th – Dublith Central Hotel, Dublith_

Winry stared at the little brass numbers. _132_. She was sure Hohenheim was beyond this door.

With a deep breath, she raised her hand and slapped it on the wood. A low noise echoed down the corridor, and the door opened.

Hohenheim had to fight the urge to take several steps back. He'd long been aware that the Daemon within him allowed him to see parts of others that ordinary people would never glimpse. He could detect the presence of Daemon's and their essence, and alchemists who had seen the Gate took on a slight glow in his eyes.

But he'd never seen anything like this.

The woman in the hallway shone with light so intense he wondered if he should shield his eyes. Far from the faint, lamp-like glow of those who had seen the Truth, she looked like she had a miniature sun under her skin. As bright as the white light that lay beyond the Gate.

What came out of his mouth was not what he intended. "What are you?"

Winry blinked, but decided to let it slide. After all, she saw the black shadow gathering around his body – she could only imagine what she looked like to him.

"I'm Winry Rockbell." She smiled, but did not extend a hand for him to shake. "And I think you know why I'm here."

_'What?'_ Hohenheim thought. _'Winry...wasn't that Pinako's granddaughter? Ed and Al's friend? And how was he supposed to know what she wanted? He had no idea why she would be-'_

But then he knew. He could see it in her eyes. The pupil expanded, and within it, he could see...

He could see the Gate. He could see the doors flying open and yawning wide, as though about to engulf him-

He broke the eye contact so suddenly he thought he heard something crack. But Winry didn't appear offended in the least. Instead, her expression was almost compassionate.

"You must this would come someday," she offered.

"I believe I did," he sighed, opening the door wider in a silent invitation for her to enter.

She stepped in, and got right to business. "I have to take it back."

Hohenheim nodded again. "What did...what did the Gatekeeper give you?"

"Everything I need."

"And if I resist...?" he ventured.

Winry's face was grim. "I take it by force. And then I...alter you...to ensure you are incapable of performing alchemy again."

"What?" Hohenheim was unable to keep a tinge of fear from leaking into his voice. What had Winry become, that she could do something like that?

"Homunculi cannot perform alchemy," Winry stated blandly, reciting the knowledge that Truth had imbued her with. "But humans can. Have you ever considered why?"

Winry didn't wait for Hohenheim's reply. "The answer is quite simple. There is an integral, undefinable part of a human being that allows them to perform alchemy. The closest approximation would be that it is a part of our souls. And if I cannot trust that you will not take on another Daemon, I am quite capable of removing it."

Hohenheim's voice failed him.

"I assure you, you won't suffer for its loss. But you will be incapable of performing alchemy from the moment I take it from you. So I ask you now, what is your decision? Do you surrender it willingly, or do I take it with force?"

Some part of Winry couldn't quite believe she was doing this. But she reminded herself of what she'd done as Angel, and didn't back down.

Hohenheim sighed wearily. "I suppose I don't have much choice...I'm rather relieved to tell you the truth..."

At Winry's quizzical expression, he elaborated. "I didn't really want to take this...creature...but once I did...I couldn't die. And I couldn't get rid of it. Let me tell you now – immortality isn't as enjoyable as you would think. So I'd only be too grateful if you took it from me...but what about my brother?"

"Brother?" Winry wrinkled her nose, flipping through her mental files on those she had to track down. "The one called Father?"

"The same."

"I get it," Winry whispered, the pieces beginning to fall into place. "Your brother did it...and you did it to try...to try to keep an eye on him...make sure he didn't do anything..."

Hohenheim snorted. "That was the idea. But it didn't work."

Winry held out her hand, palm-up, as though asking for something. Hohenheim wasn't a fool – he knew what she was asking for.

"What do I have to do?"

"Just give me your hand, and look into my eyes."

He did so. Winry concentrated hard, looking straight into his eyes, trying to see within them, to reach within him...

She felt it. A dark shadow, coiled within his body. She felt it, grasped it...and tugged.

It slithered into her so easily she was shocked. For a moment, she felt the Daemon battle to suffuse her body, but she wouldn't allow it. Locked in an entirely mental battle, she forced it down, boxed it in. She held it within her body, but refused to let it manifest.

Hohenheim felt a strange, sucking sensation somewhere in his chest. It made him want to breathe just that bit deeper, made him want to pull away from Winry's hand...

But he never got a chance. Suddenly, Winry was engulfed in flames, fire that looked as though it were made of solid white light. With a start, Hohenheim recognised the pure energy that lay beyond the Gate.

The urge to step away came again, but stronger this time. What was she, that could control this kind of power?

He saw a dark shadow dart from his hand to hers, and the sudden laxness, the emptiness of his body, told him the Daemon had left him. He saw the darkness swirl within the white flames, battle briefly for dominance, then coalesce into a small form and fade from sight.

The white flames faded, and Winry returned to normal. And she truly looked normal – the light shining from within her had gone. Hohenheim knew it hadn't faded...he just couldn't see it anymore.

For the first time in many, many years...he was just an ordinary human.

**oooooooo**

_November 10th – Hidden Cellar, Central_

"One down, two to go," Winry muttered to herself as she slipped into the cellar beneath Central.

"Winry!" Jade called. "Where were you?"

"Just making good on a business deal," Winry said, sighing with relief as she unleashed her wings.

"Business deal?" Earnest asked, the albino boy jogging to meet them.

"Yeah," Winry yawned. "Man, I need sleep!"

"It's ten in the morning!" Jade exclaimed, a look of disbelief on her face.

"I've been up all night, give me a break."

Winry toppled into her bed, and was asleep almost before her feathers hit the sheets.

**oooooooo**

_November 10th – Hidden Cellar, Central_

"Now, can everyone hear me?" Winry called from her perch on the rafters.

The cellar amplified her voice, making it echo out across the people below. A few scattered nods were her only response.

"I'm sure you're all aware of who I am, and that I apparently had friends in the military all along. Friends that I didn't remember."

Again, a few nods.

"So, you may find that I'm absent for longer periods of time than usual. But don't worry, I'm just visiting those friends and trying to reconnect with them. Above all, my responsibility towards all of you hasn't changed – I'm not going to abandon you simply because I got my memories back. I'd offer to take all of you with me, but...while this military employs some great men and women, it also houses a corrupt leader. And I won't have you placed at risk for me."

But in her heart, Winry knew this was only a temporary solution.

**oooooooo**

_November 10th – Military Headquarters, Central_

Roy remained utterly stiff in his chair, listening to the military brass yammering around him. He barely noticed it – his gaze was focused on Bradley.

He couldn't even be in the same room as the homunculus without remembering. Without his mind replaying Riza, face as blank as an empty canvas, the gun pressed to the skin of her temple, and him, the floor hard against his knees,pleading for her life...

He blinked, hard, mentally snapping himself out of it. Roy knew this was exactly what Pride wanted – for the memory of humiliation to distract him, make him docile.

Roy was determined it would have the opposite effect.

**oooooooo**

_November 10th – Military Headquarters, Central_

Winry stepped out onto the balcony, staring into the stormy night.

She was spending a few days with Ed and Al – still trying to get her equilibrium back. She could almost feel a gap between them now, a gap created by her experiences, and she would do her best to close it.

The storm almost seemed an expression of her own inner turmoil.

And Winry was seized with a sudden, almost rebellious, urge to fly in it.

She scrambled onto the balcony railing and looked out over the hideous drop, toes poised on the very edge, wings stretched behind her for balance. She grinned wickedly as the storm grew in intensity.

She used to hate storms, but her opinion was changing fast. There was just something so...daring...thrilling...wild...in this. In the idea of flying amongst rain, thunder and lightning in the dead of night.

Winry didn't care if anyone was watching. They couldn't see her in the blackness of the night – and if they did see, who would believe them? (Mangeli, perhaps, but she _wanted_ to find him).

Winry stepped off the edge, the wind catching in her unfurled wings and hurling her skyward. She laughed as she rose through the air like a leaf caught in an updraft. Higher and higher, carried by the wind and by the slow, measured beats of her wings.

She was flying!

Her hair and clothes were driven into frenzy, torn between plastering to her body with the driving rain and whipping about her in the raging wind. She soared into the heart of the tempest, as lightning knifed across the sky, followed almost instantly by the growl of thunder. She could have deflected the rain that soaked every inch of her, but she found she didn't want to. It was…liberating…to be like this. Part of the world around her. Part of it in a way no one else could understand, because no one else knew what it was like to fly through the air like a creature of the sky.

Somewhere, in the distance, a clock began to strike midnight.

**oooooooo**

_November 11th – Military Headquarters, Central_

Lightning split the sky right beside her, and Winry started. How high had she flown? Looking down, she could only just make out the dark shapes of the buildings below her.

Too high. She had to land before the storm swept her away.

Winry angled for the balcony she'd launched herself from, gliding smoothly in spite of the fierce wind. She'd land, dry herself off, go straight to bed, and in the morning...no one would be the wiser.

**oooooooo**

_November 11th – Military Headquarters, Central_

As the pale shape in the sky began to drop back towards the balcony, Ed ducked swiftly inside.

He didn't know why he hiding from her. But he couldn't help feeling as though he had seen something he shouldn't have – something that should have been private.

He dried himself in record time, and only just managed to launch into his bed before he heard Winry land on the balcony.

Ed's eyes were shut, and he tried to even his breathing out, trying to pretend he'd never awoken. He heard the rustle of feathers as Winry shifted, and the clink of metal in the next room as Al picked up another book.

He nearly sighed with relief as he heard Winry slip into the second bed once she'd towelled herself dry.

Ed risked opening one eye.

Winry's eyes were closed, but he could see a few droplets of water still clinging to her lashes. Her face was relaxed, peaceful...almost serene. One hand rested on the pillow beside her head, her finger curled slightly as though grasping air.

With her wings stretched out behind her, Ed couldn't help thinking that she really did look like an angel.

It was a long time before he fell asleep again.


	17. November 11th to November 15th

**Chapter 17**

**November 11th – November 15th**

_November 11th – Military Headquarters, Central_

When Ed woke, the bed opposite him was empty. Fearing he had overslept, he bolted upright, then relaxed when he noticed the clock. It was only just past five – what was Winry doing?

Acting on a hunch, Ed wandered out onto the balcony. His instincts were proved valid by the figure dipping and swaying in the pale dawn sky.

Some part of him worried about someone seeing her, but most of him was simply spellbound by the display. Just like last night.

But unlike last night, there was no darkness to hide him. A sharp cry from above told him he'd been spotted.

"Ed!"

Winry swung towards him, one foot extending as she perched delicately on the edge of the balcony in a pose Ed knew any other creature would have found impossible. She looked like a painting you'd find in a church – an angel standing delicately on her perch, smiling benevolently, wings outstretched behind her, golden hair streaming down her shoulders, back-lit by the rising sun.

"I'm sorry," Winry said, "I didn't mean to wake you up."

"You didn't wake me up," Ed shook his head, gazing at her almost sadly. "I were just...watching."

"Watching me?" Winry asked, delighted by the idea.

Ed shifted uncomfortably, and Winry was struck with a sudden idea.

"Want to try it?" she asked, grinning broadly.

"T-try it?" Ed gaped, his stutter betraying his shock.

Winry nodded, grabbing his hands. "Come on, just put your arms around my neck and hang on tight."

"Um…"

"Come on," Winry repeated. "Haven't you ever wondered what it would be like to fly?"

Then Ed realised what she was doing. She'd seen his uncertainty, the fear that he was going to be left behind as she journeyed onward, and she was offering him a glimpse of her path. A reassurance that he wouldn't be left behind.

For a moment, the gesture stole his breath away. She been afraid of the same thing – of him moving beyond her – and had he ever offered her this kind of assurance? No, he had never given any indication that he wanted her to continue being a part of life, not the way she was doing now.

For one moment, Ed felt humbled in the face of Winry's capacity for forgiveness.

He realised that he hadn't replied, and hastened to do so. "Are you sure…I mean, I won't be too heavy?" He hoped desperately he hadn't brought up a possibly fatal objection.

She beamed at him. "You're talking to the girl who can bend iron bars with her bare hands, remember? I could probably lift Al if I really tried."

Nodding, Ed wrapped his arms around her neck and she hugged his waist. Both were blushing slightly as they adjusted themselves.

"Ready?"

Ed took a deep breath. "Go for it."

Winry stepped backwards off the balcony, spreading her wings to catch the thermal beneath her. Ed's stomach felt as though he'd left it behind on the railing. For a moment, he was glad he hadn't eaten breakfast yet.

"Easy, Ed," Winry said, her mouth almost right next to his ear. "I'm not going to drop you."

Ed realised he'd been all-but choking her, and made a conscious effort to relax his grip. Winry nearly laughed – she could tell Ed was trying not to strangle her, but his grip was still a lot tighter than necessary. He was probably nervous, and Winry nearly laughed at the idea of Ed being scared of flying.

She didn't want to freak him out too much, though, and kept her wings open in a steady glide.

Slowly, Ed found he was beginning to enjoy himself. The wind in his face, the sensation of complete weightlessness, the utter freedom of the empty sky...

Winry could feel him starting to relax, so she began to truly fly.

Ed jerked when Winry's wings – held away from her body to catch the warm air rising off the ground – suddenly rose, then swept downwards. A sudden gust of wind over his face made him squint his eyes as he felt them gain height. Winry's wings continued to beat powerfully, churning the air beneath them as they continued to soar higher.

Ed couldn't hold in a smile of wonder as they rose through the crisp air. He felt so…free. Winry dipped and weaved, bobbing through the sky like a feather in a whirlwind and he delighted in the wind rushed past his face. The sensation of being totally unsupported, except by Winry, with nothing under his feet and yet he wasn't expecting a fall…

He could understand why Winry loved to fly. It was as though every worry, every burden, had been left behind on the ground.

**oooooooo**

_November 11th – Military Headquarters,Central_

Eventually, it got too dangerous to keep flying – the lighter the sky grew, the more chances they had of being spotted.

Winry landed them on the balcony, and Ed staggered a little when they touched down. It felt strange, suddenly feeling the weight of gravity on his shoulders again.

Winry smiled, "Cool, huh?"

"Very," Ed smirked.

"You're not an Angel until you can fly, huh?" Winry said, snorting at her own pun.

But then she sobered. A voice in the back of her mind was busy reminding her about a quote she'd once heard.

_'A bell is not a bell until it is rung, a song is not a song until it is sung. Love is not born in our hearts to stay, love is not love until it is given away.'_

She knew things had been strained between her and Ed, but she felt confident they could recover. She still loved him, and she'd thought...or perhaps she'd hoped...that there had been some feelings on his side as well.

The question was – were they still there?

"Ed," Winry began softly, "We've known each other for a long time, right?"

"Uh...yeah..."

Ed was starting to panic. Winry sounded deadly serious, and he couldn't predict which way this conversation would be going. It was obviously going to be about their relationship, but what about it? Was she going to tell him there might be something between them, or that there could never be anything more than friendship?

"We used to be close. Really close. And now...not so much. Have you noticed?"

Ed nodded. He'd noticed. He also knew the distance between them was mainly his fault – Winry had treated him the same way she'd always treated him. She still fixed his automail (and yelled at him for not going to Pinako about it), she still called him short, still teased him about eating too much...

But he found he was increasingly uncomfortable around Winry. And it centered around the fear he'd felt after her memories returned – that she'd moved beyond him. Sure, before all this happened, he figured he'd had a chance with her, but now...now he wasn't so sure. She seemed so different, and at the same time...not. The more changes Ed saw, the more he became convinced that they weren't truly changes, just aspects of Winry's personality she'd never felt truly comfortable expressing...until now.

Her leadership? She orchestrated a baby's delivery efficiently and practically, with enough skill to impress a fully-trained doctor. Her strength and responsibility for those she'd taken in? Winry had always been strong, and he never met anyone more reliable. Her confidence in herself? Perhaps the laboratory had simply shown Winry that she could survive whatever this world threw at her.

Ed was convinced that the woman standing in front of him was the woman Winry was always meant to be.

But could that woman ever feel anything for him?

He nodded again when he realised Winry was still waiting for an answer to her previous question.

"And Ed, I don't think we can get back to normal unless we're totally honest with each other. I think we need to have an open, honest talk about what's happening here. Can you agree to that?"

Another nod. Ed didn't quite trust his voice yet.

"Alright." Winry took a deep breath. She decided this had to be handled the way jumping into an icy stream would have to be handled – plunge right into the deep end and get it over with quickly. "We've been friends for a long time, and I have to admit, for me it gradually became something more-"

Ed was rather pleased his jaw didn't drop. It happened to her, too?

But Winry was still talking, her eyes fixed on the ground, afraid to look Ed in the eye and make this even more awkward. "But, well...getting kidnapped, experimented on, losing my memory, becoming 'Angel'... it kinda messed with my head a little. But I want you to know, those feelings are still there...in my case, at least. I still...love you, Ed."

Winry shut her eyes, feeling as though she were waiting for a guillotine to drop as she awaited his reaction.

She wasn't sure what she'd expected, but it wasn't for Ed to sweep her into a hug with a shout of joy. Winry blinked, frozen in shock, but Ed pulled away before she could react.

"Uh...?" was all the response Winry could muster, but Ed was speaking before her brain could process what had just happened.

"I know that I haven't been...like we were, but that was because...I thought that you...that you didn't really want anything to do with me anymore-"

He got no further. Winry, on instinct, had cuffed him on the side of the head.

"Idiot!" she growled.

"Well, yeah, I know that now," Ed admitted, slightly shame-faced. "But that was because...when you were away...it was kind of a wake-up call for me...and I...uh...I...uh..."

Winry could see Ed was obviously struggling to say his piece, and she now she had a good idea of what that piece was, but didn't want to jinx it by saying it aloud. However, as she watched Ed stutter and stammer and blush, she realised she might have to. Ed had never been good at vocalising emotions or affections – she'd probably have to give him a helping hand.

"You love me?" Winry supplied.

Ed nodded and fell silent, fighting the blush he knew was spreading across his face. But then he was distracted by a different kind of heat. He forgot about the warm blood suffusing his cheeks as all his attention went to the warm lips that lay across his own.

**oooooooo**

_November 11th – Military Headquarters, Central_

"It's funny, isn't it?" Winry commented, swinging her legs where they dangled off the railing.

"What's funny?" Ed was sitting beside her, his position more cautious than hers. But then again, he didn't have wings to stop his fall if he slid off.

"That what happened in the lab could have led us to something like this," Winry clarified.

Ed shrugged, looking slightly uncomfortable. "I don't like to think of 'this'-" he put an arm over her shoulders and hugged her for a moment, "-as being caused by...what happened. I mean, I think I was already...you know...and it just..."

"Took losing me to make you realise it," Winry finished for him.

"I guess," Ed mused. "But now that I look back on it, it's like...like I was already in love with you...and had been for a long time..."

"Wow, Ed," Winry grinned, "I would never have taken you for a closet romantic."

"I'll push you off this railing," Ed threatened, a slight tinge of red across his cheeks.

"Go ahead," Winry challenged with a smirk, "I've got wings, remember?"

Ed was still a little surprised at how comfortable this felt. They had some moments when embarrassment took over them, sure, but they were few and far between. No, what was really shocking was how...natural...this seemed.

To be with Winry.

In the romantic sense of the word.

"I feel pretty comfortable with this," Winry said, sounding surprised. "I thought we'd be awkward with each other, all stammers and blushing and everything."

Ed snorted with laughter.

"What?" Winry was indignant. "Are you laughing at me?"

"No!" Ed nearly yelled. He'd learned at an early age that an angry Winry should be placated, fast, before the famous wrench made an appearance. "It's just...I was just thinking the same thing."

"Same thoughts at the same time?" Winry smiled. "Must be a sign."

"We're just meant to be," Ed sighed dramatically.

"In a week or two, I bet things won't be so perfect," Winry warned, her voice serious. "The bubble's going to burst."

"Let it burst all it wants," Ed scoffed, hugging her to him. "I'm happy. For the first time in a long while, I'm actually happy."

There was a long, serious silence, both savouring the emotions in the air. Then Winry spoke again.

"By the way, have you thought about what you're getting Al for his birthday?"

**oooooooo**

_November 15th – Military Headquarters, Central_

"Happy Birthday, Al!" Winry squealed as soon as she entered the door.

It was Al's sixteenth birthday, and Winry had risen from the sewers once more, to see her boyfriend and pseudo-brother.

"Hi, Winry," Al said, a smile in his voice as he returned her exuberant hug. "We missed you. Brother, especially."

Winry could have sworn there was a subtle smirk in his voice. Four days ago, when she and Ed had walked into the room and told him they were about to embark on a relationship, Al had simply laughed and asked what had taken them so long. Both teens had gaped at him, and he had told them that everyone with eyes had seen their relationship coming.

It had been sort of disappointing. What they had thought of as a shocking revelation and been, to those who knew them, a sort of belated recognition.

_'You guys are a couple now? About time.'_

Winry yelped as someone sneaked up behind her, clapping their hands over her eyes. "Guess who?"

"There's only one person stupid enough to do that to me, Ed," she rejoined sarcastically.

His hands slipped from her eyes, spun her around, and she kissed suddenly and swiftly.

Winry laughed and shoved him away. "Enough, Ed. It's Al's birthday, you know."

"Of course I know – I spent two hours looking for his present."

"By the way, Al," Winry smiled. "I haven't got you your present yet. Someone else is getting it for me, so I have to do some things for them before you get it. But I think you're going to like it."

**oooooooo**

_November 15th – Military Headquarters, Central_

Riza was embarrassed to say she was taken completely off-guard. One moment, she was walking down the hallway, the next, she had been yanked into a broom closet by her arm, one hand closing over her mouth to muffle her shout.

She twisted in her attacker's arms, and was surprised to realise how strong her opponent was – r struggles were having so little effect it was ludicrous.

"It's okay, Miss Hawkeye, it's me," Winry's voice whispered right next to her ear.

Riza relaxed as Winry eased her grip. She was reassured that Winry wouldn't harm her, but was shocked at the girl's strength. Riza worked out everyday, yet when she fought Winry's grip it was like fighting an avalanche. She had known, intellectually, that Winry was changed, but it was one thing to know, and another to _know_. To find that a seventeen year old girl can suddenly match you in a physical fight with no more effort then holding a moth in her hand.

"What's wrong?" Riza asked, instantly business-like.

"I need to talk to you."

"Any particular reason why it had to be in the broom closet?"

"I don't want anyone to overhear this, or even know we're talking."

Riza's eyes were beginning to adjust – she could now just make out Winry in the darkness. "Why?"

"Miss Hawkeye...can you think of a reason why anyone would want to...control you?"

Riza stiffened. "What do you know?"

"I know that someone implanted the essence of a Gate Daemon in your body, with the intention of gaining your mindless, unquestioning obedience to every command they uttered."

Riza flinched. She hated being reminded of the Daemon essence within her, hated acknowledging that Wrath exercised complete and utter power over her whenever he chose to do so. It left her feeling violated, helpless, victimised. She was living her life under a shadow, knowing that the ultimate control – that of her mind and body – could be taken from her at anytime, anywhere.

But Winry wasn't finished speaking. "And I know that I can stop it."

"What?" Riza's voice was painted with disbelief.

She was just starting to discern Winry's eyes, and they were hard as blue diamonds. "I can take it from you, take it out of you. But before I do, I have to know something...who placed it in you?"

"Wrath," Riza said quietly, then mentally berated herself. Winry wouldn't know who Wrath was. "I mean-"

"You mean the homunculus masquerading as the Fuhrer," Winry nodded – the information Truth had given her had already supplied the answer.

"Y-yes..." Riza knew her eyes had widened. How did Winry know about Wrath? How had she known about the Daemon essence? More importantly, how did she have the power to take it away?

"Damn," Winry cursed. "That means he'll know if I take it away."

"So you can't do anything," Riza supplied, her heart sinking. She'd hoped...just for a moment, she'd hoped...

"I can do something...it'll just take a little longer, that's all," Winry whispered. "I can neutralise it. That is, it will remain within you – so Wrath doesn't get suspicious – but he won't be able to control you with it."

Riza nodded. "Do it." She hoped she didn't sound too desperate.

"Give me your hands."

Riza felt Winry grip her outstretched fingers. And then...

It was the strangest sensation she'd ever felt. As though something were squirming in her body, struggling to escape.

But she even more surprised when Winry began to glow. Thin tendrils of white flames – especially noticeable in the dark closet – began to drift from her skin like smoke. Riza inhaled sharply as they licked her own flesh, but they didn't even feel warm.

Before she could say anything, the flames died, and the strange feeling stopped. Winry released her hands.

"There. He'll still think you're under his control, but he can't do anything now."

"I...thank you..." Riza's voice was hoarse with repressed emotion. "But how...?"

But Winry had darted back into the hallway before she could say any more.


	18. November 22nd to December 29th

**Chapter 18**

**November 22nd – December 29th**

_November 22nd – Military Headquarters, Central_

Ed was worried. Winry had been brooding lately – even though 'brooding' and 'Winry' in the same sentence felt like an oxymoron.

But he'd catch her gazing into the distance with a pensive expression on her face, telling him she was thinking far too much and far too seriously. If it only happened occasionally, he'd dismiss it. But that was the problem, it was happening almost every time he looked at her.

Not that she was depressed. On the contrary, she often seemed happier than ever, but there was a sense of...irresolution...about her. As though she had something to do.

Ed looked down at the woman in his arms, and noticed her thousand-mile stare. "What's the matter?"

Winry jerked. "Nothing," she said softly, looking up at him. "I was just thinking."

And then Ed's thoughts dissolved as she pulled him down into a kiss. Whatever it was, she'd tell him one day.

**oooooooo**

_December 5th – Hidden Cellar, Central_

"This will end soon, you know," Winry murmured, sitting beside Jade and Earnest and looking out at the others.

Jade's eyes were ancient. "We know. We can tell. I know you think the other's are oblivious, but...we know you're on some kind of quest, Winry. There's something that you think you have to do, and we know that you won't rest until you've done it. And we know you're getting close."

Winry nodded. There's a man," she said softly, "A man like Mangeli..."

Earnest looked her. "You're going to try to stop him, aren't you?"

Winry nodded. "I have to."

_'I have a promise to fulfill, and a bargain to keep.'_

To her surprise, Earnest simply nodded. He had a strange look on his face – as though he understood, but wouldn't say why he understood.

But then, the poor kid had been raised by Mangeli, and was fully aware of the atrocities that he and his like were capable of perpetrating. He probably thought Winry was being noble.

And she was – there just happened to be more on the line than heroics.

**oooooooo**

_December 6th – Military Headquarters, Central_

Ed knew something was up when Winry asked to speak with Roy and Riza as well. The five of them – Winry, Al, Roy, Riza, and himself – were in the Colonel's office, talking in low undertones.

"Do you know of a creature called Father?" Winry asked, and all present started in surprise.

"That's..." Al whispered.

"The leader of the homunculi," Winry affirmed. "My little group and I are going to be taking him down at the end of the month, and the question is, do you guys want in on the plan?"

It was said so calmly, so matter-of-factly, that the actual question didn't register at first, but when it did...

"_WHAT?_"

Winry winced. Four voices yelling in perfect chorus was just _painful_.

"I said-"

"I know what you said!" Ed spluttered. "Are you out of your mind?"

Winry pinned him with a harsh gaze. "Ed...do you dispute that I am probably the only person in this entire world capable of doing damage to him?"

"I-"

"I can nullify alchemy," Winry continued, "So he won't be able to utilise that against me. And with my enhanced strength, agility, and rate of healing...not to mention that whole steel-skin thing...it's not like he'll be able to bring me down in a physical fight."

"Something tells me alchemy's not all he can do," Ed hissed.

Winry nodded. She knew that. She was sure that the Daemon in his body would allow him other weapons, but...it wasn't like she was completely defenceless in that regard, either.

She held out her hand for all to see. Winry tapped into the wellspring of power within her, allowing white flames to dance over her fingers.

"In this state," she whispered, "These flames do no more harm than still water. But if I were to actually attack with them...I'm quite capable of leveling the entire building. I'm not here to ask you if I have permission to do take him on – you can't stop me – but I'm asking if you'll join me."

"A chance to rid ourselves of the homunculi..." Roy mused. "I don't see how we can't."

"Winry..." Al appealed.

Winry smiled reassuringly at him, before locking eyes with Ed, trying to communicate silently.

_'I know you're worried, Ed, but I don't need your protection. Not anymore.'_

Ed sighed. "We'll come with. But...you'll be careful, won't you?"

Winry drew an 'X' on her chest. "Cross my heart and hope to lose my wings."

Ed snorted. Winry's version of 'cross my heart and hope to die' always amused him for some reason.

"When is this final attack being launched?" the Colonel asked, his voice dropping even lower.

"The 29th," Winry said, without hesitation.

"I'll just make sure the Lieutenant and I have the day off," Roy murmured, already picking up the phone.

Riza frowned as he laughed and flirted with the girl on the other end, pouring on the sugar to try and cajole her into scheduling a day of both his and Riza's vacation time on the 29th. Against her will, Riza found herself becoming slightly bitter.

Winry shifted, her wings rustling as the sharp twinge of a lie resounded in her body. Again, Roy was lying – flirting with a woman when he clearly didn't mean word of what he said to her. He would never even consider going out with her.

Winry found it interesting that she could feel the lie when he flirted with other women, but when he flirted playfully with Riza...nothing. Nothing but the clear ring of truth.

The click of the phone hanging up disrupted Winry's thoughts.

"It's done," Roy nodded. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"Of course I know," Winry said crossly, making Ed and Al chuckle – Winry still didn't like people implying she didn't know what she doing...some things would never change.

As Winry rose to leave, however, she snagged Riza's arm and pulled the older woman in close to her. She wasn't quite sure about the ethics of what she was about to do, but her telepathy was picking up Riza's depression at Roy's antics.

"Miss Hawkeye," she whispered, right next to Riza's ear. "Don't worry, I can sense lies. And the Colonel is lying when he flirts with those women. I can sense a lie whenever he flirts with any woman...except you."

Then she was gone.

**oooooooo**

_December 6th – Military Headquarters, Central_

Riza tried to focus on the papers in front of her, but her mind wasn't cooperating. It was too busy remembering what Winry had told her.

_'He lies when he flirts with other women, but not when he flirts with me?'_

She still didn't know what to make of it.

Roy, for his part, was feeling almost...happy. A little anxious about the inevitable battle, of course, but mostly happy. After all, Riza was no longer under the Fuhrer's control, they stood a very solid chance of bringing the homunculi down with Winry on their side...

For the first time in a long while, Roy was actually hopeful. It was a good feeling.

He glanced at the room's other occupants – Riza and Black Hayate. The dog was curled at Riza's feet, whimpering softly in a quiet plea for attention. Riza was staring at the papers in front of her, and if Roy hadn't known better he would have sworn her mind was miles away.

"Lieutenant?"

"Yes, sir?" Perhaps she really _hadn't_ been paying attention – he could have sworn she jerked a little, as though in surprise.

"I've been wondering, what did Miss Rockbell say to you on her way out? It seemed to shake you up a little."

Riza kept her expression carefully blank when she replied, "Nothing important, sir, and certainly nothing relevant to the upcoming battle."

"Ah." Roy translated her reply as 'I'm not going to tell a soul, even under excruciating torture'. Well, it had been worth a shot.

He smiled as Riza's hand drifted downwards, almost unconsciously, to rub Black Hayate's ears. She tried so hard to hide it, but Riza was really one of the kindest people he'd ever met.

It was just one of things he loved about her.

**oooooooo**

_December 28th – Hidden Cellar, Central_

The night before they launched their attack, everyone gathered in the underground home of Winry and her band to review the plan for the final time.

"The homunculi are created from portions of Father's soul," Winry said, addressing the group as a whole. "Which means that if I can destroy him, the homunculi will just...die. Though I don't know if they can really die, considering they're not really alive..."

Winry didn't mention that she intended to yank Father's essence out of Ling first. She would only have time to do that to one of them, and frankly, Ling/Greed was the only one she cared to do it too. That might have been ridiculously selfish – to save only her friend – but at the moment, Winry couldn't care less.

"So my main goal will be to take Father down," she continued, "Now I know that the homunculi are gathering tomorrow-" more knowledge given to her by Truth "-so that's we'll strike. Sloth will be absent, but it won't matter. He's in no position to storm in as reinforcement, and he'll go the way of the other homunculi when Father is defeated."

_'Because as soon as I rip the Daemon out of him, it can't sustain those portions of his soul that he dished out to the homunculi.'_

"Our biggest problem is probably Wrath, as he has the 'Ultimate Eye', he has the best chance of spotting us and our intentions – so we need to bring him down quickly."

'_And that nickname isn't a misnomer. He sees as though he had a full-fledged Daemon inside of him – he sees what Father does. As such, he's the only one of the homunculi who can identify the presence of Daemon's, Daemon essence...or see me for what I really am. That's why I've avoided him like the plague when I'm in the headquarters. And I need to have him occupied with a fight before he can blurt it out. Father is going to spot it too, so my goal is to be in combat with him by the time he notices it. Which means I have to start fighting him almost as soon as I see him.'_

"I'll be depending on all of you to keep the homunculi off my back while I take on Father. It may seem like overkill – over twenty people to take on four monsters – but trust me, you'll need the strength of numbers. Fortunately, we have four practicing alchemists here; Ed, Al, the Colonel, and Joeseph. This means we can have one alchemist per homunculus, in addition to the others fighting them. One rule, though..."

Winry's eyes hardened, and her voice was the hard edge of a diamond, "I take on Father alone. No one interferes – trust me, you won't be able to withstand him. It isn't that you don't have a chance of winning, it's less than that, I'm the only one who has a chance of _surviving_ combat with Father. Understood?"

Everyone nodded. They'd all heard the plan before, and Winry distinctly remembered Ed's outraged objection that she would take on Father alone. Winry had expected it – Ed was nothing if not protective, and since they'd become involved, that had only increased.

It had taken many hours (and many reassurances and demonstrations of the true extent of her powers) before Ed had finally agreed. Though 'agreed' was probably too strong a word – he'd given her the non-verbal equivalent of accepting the situation, but not liking it.

Winry was worried he'd charge into the fight if it looked like she was getting the worst of it, but there was nothing she could do except pray it didn't happen. If Ed jumped into the middle of a fight with Father...there would be very little he could do against the...creature (Winry wasn't sure if she could call Father a 'man').

"That being said, I think we need to get some sleep," Winry grinned at her friends, "Big day tomorrow."

_'And that's the understatement of the year'._

**oooooooo**

_December 28th – Hidden Cellar, Central_

"Winry!"

Instantly assuming they were under attack, Winry's eyes snapped open, the vestiges of sleep banished in an instant. She leapt up, her wings sweeping the sheets from her body as her skin turned to metal and her fingers lengthened into claws, her muscles already tensed for a fight...

But then she saw exactly who had shaken her shoulder, and relaxed. "Ed?"

Ed gaped at Winry from his position on the floor. The sudden, instinctive defense had been utterly unexpected and completely shocking. Just when he thought he knew all the changes Winry had gone through, she did something like this to throw him for another loop.

"You okay, Ed?" Winry asked, offering him her hand.

"Fine," Ed muttered, letting her help him back to his feet.

"What's up?"

"Well, uh..." Ed looked almost embarrassed to be mentioning it, "I don't have a bed – there's none left."

Winry snorted. Typical Ed – embarrassed to admit his need for the creature comforts. "It's alright to be human, Ed," she giggled, "It doesn't hurt, I promise."

Still, Winry was rather miffed that she'd miscalculated – she'd been sure there were enough spare beds to house Riza, Roy, and Ed (Al didn't need one for obvious reasons). But it appeared she'd been wrong.

"Very funny," Ed said, but the look he gave her told her he found it anything but. "Seriously, Winry, I need somewhere to sleep."

Winry flopped back onto her bed – half of a circular barrel filled with pillows and sheets – and pondered for a moment. Then she wriggled to the side, deliberately making room for another body beside hers.

Ed's face was turning red. "You're not suggesting..."

"I'm sleepy, Ed," Winry interrupted. "Even though I could cleave another barrel in half with ease, I'm not going to spend hours rustling up sheets and pillows, okay? So either hop in or nap on the floor."

"Yes, ma'am," Ed muttered, sliding into the bed next to her.

He seemed deeply uncomfortable, and Winry took pity on him. She'd long ago learned that while tentative contact made Ed jittery, deliberate, prolonged contact seemed to soothe him. So she snuggled into his side, her head leaving the pillow in lieu of his shoulder, her arms wrapping around his chest.

She felt him stiffen in shock, and pressed a kiss to his chest in reassurance, muttering, "Good night, Ed."

Winry could sense the tension flow out of Ed's body as he slipped his arm down her back – running along the strip of skin between her wings. That was probably her biggest complaint about the feathery limbs – they made cuddling a little more difficult.

_'Still,'_ Winry thought as she began to slip into sleep, _'I like my wings, and I'm not getting rid of them.'_

**oooooooo**

_December 29th – Father's Laboratory, Central_

The ceiling exploded, white flames pouring into the room like a waterfall. Winry leapt to the ground, instantly honing in on Ling/Greed, tackling him to the ground.

While Father and the other homunculi were still recovering from the shock and her group was just beginning to enter behind her, Winry gripped the side of his face and snapped her eyes to his.

It took just under a five seconds. She felt the part of Father's soul yanked from Ling's body like a car crash victim felt whiplash. It was gone, and Ling was gasping on the ground, shivering as though in shock.

But she had no time to reassure him, or explain to her group why one of their foes was suddenly not an enemy anymore.

Fortunately, Winry had never suffered the company of idiots. Seeing that the once-Greed had been well-handled, the fourth group split up, joining the others as they converged on Wrath, Gluttony, and Envy.

The man who looked exactly like Hohenheim was staring at Winry as though she were the devil incarnate. She knew he was seeing the seed of the Gate within her body, just as she could see the black shadow of the Daemon within him.

"It's not possible," he whispered.

Winry didn't bother replying. She simply raised her hand, and let her white fire roar towards Father.


	19. December 29th

**Chapter 19**

**December 29th**

_December 29th – Father's Laboratory, Central_

There were six constants in the raging battle. Riza and Al were facing Gluttony, Ed and Joeseph were fighting Wrath, and Roy was facing Envy. Earnest, Jade, and the others in Winry's posse were fluid, sliding between fights like water – whenever they saw someone being beaten back, they moved in to help.

But no one joined in Winry's fight against Father.

Winry sent her white fire roaring through the air, and she saw Father flex his hands as though trying to use alchemy. It did no good – Winry had already disabled it. _His_ alchemy, not anyone else's. So he sent what looked like solid black shadows licking from his fists to intercept her white fire.

Winry had expected some sort of explosion, but the reaction was just the opposite. When his black shadows and her white fire collided, they simply...neutralised. Both fizzled out in a small puff of smoke.

Never one to be discouraged, Winry leapt forward, her skin flashing to metal and her fingers elongating into claws. Father spun out of the way, and Winry had a moment to think how surreal it was to see middle-aged man moving as lightly as a dancer.

She swiped at him as he passed, but the gashes healed almost as soon as they opened. A rope of black shadow caught her across the shoulder, and Winry cried out as her flesh sizzled. She didn't have to worry, though – she felt her flesh already working to repair itself.

Winry spun in a circle, letting her claws slice long ribbons of blood across Father's torso. He gasped, falling to his knees briefly with pain. Winry suspected it had been a long time since Father had engaged in this kind of fight.

But with Father on his knees, Winry wasn't about to waste one moment of her advantage. She hurled her white fire at him, a column of pure energy that screamed through the air. Father couldn't react in time, and the blast sent him through the nearest wall.

Winry flew – literally – after him. All she needed was a few moments of physical contact...

The solid darkness hit her like a wave of poison. Winry screamed as she was sent to the floor, her flesh – steel though it was – bubbling and melting as though she had been plunged into boiling water. She saw Father step through the ragged tear in the bricks, his skin peeled from his body like skin from an orange, but already regenerating.

And Winry realised with a start that their clothes were unharmed. Her white fire wasn't reacting with his clothes, or the objects around them. It was reacting with Father himself. Just as his black shadow was reacting with her, and her alone. But she didn't have time to ponder that mystery.

Winry struggled to her feet with effort – her healing rate might repair the damage at superhuman speed, but it did nothing for the pain.

But Father had taken advantage of her weakness. Another blast of black shadow hurled her across the room, and Winry felt her bones break like toothpicks with the force of the impact even as her body melted and burned.

Winry fought desperately against unconsciousness as the pain threatened to make her pass out. The wounds would heal, she just needed to keep the agony under control long enough to fight back.

She could tell by the startled look on Father's face that he hadn't expected her to get up again.

Another blast of white fire, and this time Winry saw Father's body cave in on itself as though about to disintegrate. For the first time, it occurred to her that Father was getting the worst of this battle – her skin was steel, and harder to breach, but with his alchemy disabled, he had no hope of producing a similar shield.

He was too slow, and this time Winry saw the blow coming. She flapped her wings once, flying up and out of the range of the blast. She flipped gracefully though the air, sailing over his head and striking from behind.

Winry had hoped that this contact might be enough to rip the Daemon from him, but Father was too quick. He spun away, and laid his hand on her face.

It was like being directly in front of a shotgun when it went off. Winry was thrown backwards, and she could feel the metal-flesh of her face dissolving, peeling away, the bone beneath it crumbling...

Then, quite suddenly, a wall shot up from the floor, between her and Father. Winry's head turned (as she knew Father's was doing on the other side), and she saw...

Ed. His hands pressed to the floor, apparently having noticed her predicament.

_'Ed,'_ Winry thought in despair, _'Ed, you idiot...'_

But there was no help for it. She could survive Father's attacks, Ed couldn't.

So Winry threw herself forward, tackling Ed to the floor, her wings rising over them in an effort to shield him..

She'd known Father was gunning for Ed, but she hadn't expected him to be so quick. Her wings were barely halfway in the air before she felt the blast of black shadow. She watched, slightly nauseated by both the sight and the level of pain accompanying it, as her metal wing melted away to reveal muscles and tendons. They too, burned away, until her bare bones were exposed to the air.

Winry screamed, she couldn't help it, even as she could see muscles and tendons and skin regrowing over her skeleton. Ed was gaping at her, looking horrified, but now was not the time for small talk. She whirled, facing Father once more, sending out a snake of white fire to keep him occupied.

The black shadows neutralised it, and Winry threw herself into the fight once more.

**oooooooo**

_December 29th – Father's Laboratory, Central_

In a moment when Wrath was beaten back, Ed risked a glance over at Winry...only to find Father approaching her where she lay crumpled on the floor.

He reacted without thinking. He clapped his hands, letting a wall spring up between them. Both turned to him, Father's eyes filled with contempt, and Winry's filled with...fear?

Ed was given no time to react. He saw a burst of what looked like solid darkness pour from Father's hands, just as Winry tackled him to the ground. She raised her wings, obviously trying to shelter him as the blast caught one of the feathered limbs.

Winry screamed, and it was only sheer horror that kept Ed from joining her as her entire wing melted down to her bare bones.

And Ed realised, like a slap to the face, why he should keep out of this fight – at all costs.

Because he would be a liability.

It was clear that, with whatever it was the Father was throwing out, Winry was the only one who could take a blow like that and live. If he joined in, Winry would be forced to protect him. And in protecting him, Father had the best chance of being able to kill her.

So when Winry whirled away and rejoined the fight, he didn't make a sound of protest. He couldn't fight this battle.

Lesson learned, Ed turned back to Wrath.

**oooooooo**

_December 29th – Father's Laboratory, Central_

Deception was Envy's very nature. While he ducked and dipped away from Roy's flames, he was switching shapes with almost blurring speed, trying to strike upon the _one_. The form that would make him halt in his tracks.

And since he'd been spying on the Colonel in the first place, Envy knew a variety of shapes that might throw the Colonel.

The pretty woman at the reception desk.

No luck.

The last woman he'd gone on a date with – all those months ago.

No reaction.

The shape of his friend – Maes Hughes.

A reaction, but not enough of one to satisfy Envy. There was a flicker of hesitation, yes, but Roy still snapped his fingers, and the fire still danced towards him.

But now Envy had an idea of what might throw the Colonel.

He tried them in quick succession – the shapes of those who had been stolen from under his command. Havoc, Breda, Falman, Fuery.

There were reactions, but not enough. So Envy concentrated, and tried his final idea.

**oooooooo**

_December 29th – Father's Laboratory, Central_

Roy continued snapping his fingers, struggling valiantly not to hesitate as Envy shifted his form from one friend to another. The homunculus was just trying to throw him off, and Roy kept up that mantra, telling himself firmly that the people in front of him were not his friends – he was not burning his friends.

But then...

In a snap of white light, Envy's shape shifted once more.

And this time, Roy froze.

Riza Hawkeye stood in front of him, her blonde hair tousled, her uniform ripped, bruises and streaks of blood splotched across her skin as though she had been in a vicious fight.

"Roy...?" she whispered, that single syllable laying in his heart like a lead weight.

Roy's heart rate soared, his breath became shallow and gaspy, and his hands started to shake. He knew it was Envy in Riza's form. His logical mind was screaming him that this was just what Envy wanted.

But it was currently in combat with one of Roy's most deeply hidden instincts. The one that screamed that Riza Hawkeye must not be harmed, at all costs.

And as heart and mind clashed in outright war, Envy seized the moment. Roy found himself hurled backwards, his ribs stinging from a spinning kick to the chest. Envy was back in his natural form, and Roy raised his hand...

But then it was Riza in front of him once more.

Another long moment of hesitation gave Envy the opportunity to deck him before the homunculus was distracted by Jade's blow to his back.

If Envy continued to use Riza's shape, Roy didn't see how he was going to be able to harm the homunculus, much less kill the monster.

**oooooooo**

_December 29th – Father's Laboratory, Central_

Wrath jumped forward, brushing Riza's neck with his fingers.

"Turn your gun on yourself," he hissed, obviously planning to use the Daemon's essence to control her and hold her life hostage once more.

He seemed completely floored when she spun away from him, firing at his head.

"Obey me!" he bellowed when he regenerated.

Riza smirked as Ed rejoined their battle. "It looks like you've been outmaneuvered, Fuhrer."

The expression of rage and disbelief on his face almost made all those months of hideous uncertainty worth it.

**oooooooo**

_December 29th – Father's Laboratory, Central_

Another spurt of black shadow barely missed Winry as she hovered in mid-air, raining white fire down on her opponent. Father was taking the aerial assault badly, but not badly enough to be incapacitated. And she needed something to keep him quiet while she took the Daemon from him.

Winry knew it was only a matter of time before the black shadows dancing in the air like cobras brought her down, so she was prepared when one finally hit her in the ankle. It acted like a lasso – dragging her back to the ground, and Winry rolled with the impact in a tangle of hair and feathers.

She was peppered with short, sharp blasts of black shadow like bullets from a machine gun. Winry knew there was no way she'd be able to fight back effectively if he kept this up. So she took what she knew was a cheap shot, throwing her white fire right into Father's face.

Father screamed as his skin burned away and his eyes melted in their sockets, blinding him. And Winry decided she'd had enough of dancing around him. She could probably take anything he hit her with, anyway, and she knew that prolonging this fight was only putting her friends in danger.

Winry charged, tackling Father to the ground and grasping both sides of his face, digging her fingers into his flesh to resist any attempt to dislodge her.

Father _felt_ what she was doing and grabbed her arms, trying to force them away from him, using his black shadow to scorch and burn her flesh. Winry gritted her teeth against the pain, holding on grimly.

Father was beginning to howl, though Winry suspected it had more to do with frustration than the pain she was causing him by forcibly removing the creature from his body. A tight scream scraped its way past her throat as the flesh of her arms began to fall away.

But then...she felt it. The Daemon was torn from Father's body (and Winry made sure to rob him of that part of him that allowed him to perform alchemy) just as a dark shadow flickered at one end of the room. Father went perfectly rigid, then collapsed, as though completely drained of energy.

Around the room, the remaining homunculi screamed and simply dissolved, falling away into nothing, the Philosopher's Stones that had held their bodies together cracking into dust. As the dark shadow at the end of the room joined them, Winry realised it must have been another homunculus.

_'Probably Pride,'_ she thought, standing wearily.

She looked around the room, noting the injuries sported by her friends and the way Ling was still shaking.

"Jade," she said softly, looking at the woman who had come to stand by her side. "Let's get everyone patched up. And help him-" she nodded to Ling, "-his system is probably in shock."

Winry dusted herself off, moving away from Father, disregarding the man stumbling to his feet.

"Winry..." Al said weakly, "Winry, he's right behind you..."

Winry turned, and spoke to Father for the first time. "I have taken the Daemon from your body. I have also altered you in the process – you will never perform alchemy again."

She ignored the gasps that resounded around the room. She would explain, or at least _try_ to, later. Right now, Winry was just too tired.

"I have let you live." Winry didn't glare, but her stare was a hard one. "Only because I know that, from this moment on, you are no longer a threat. You are insignificant...and I know it will be the worst possible punishment for someone like you."

And Winry knew it was true. For centuries, Father had held all the cards in his hand – a word from him could break entire empires. And now, he was just an ordinary man. Brought down by a girl not even eighteen.

Winry turned, preparing to walk away, but his voice stopped her.

"What are you?"

Winry chose to deliberately misinterpret the question. "My name's Winry Rockbell...for all the good it will do you."

"I asked _what_ you were, not who you were," Father corrected. "I've seen Mangeli's chimeras and I can say, without a doubt, that you're not his handiwork."

"Really?" Winry shivered her wings. "Certainly feels like it."

"Oh, the wings are Mangeli's, alright," Father said, altogether too cocky for someone alone in a room of enemies. "But I doubt anything else is. Mangeli doesn't have the finesse, the skill, to make something like you."

Ed's nerves were already strung out by the battle, and Father's words weren't helping at all. "Listen!" he snarled, "That psycho didn't 'make' Winry-"

"It's okay, Ed," Winry said calmly. "He has no idea what he's saying, not really."

"Oh, but I do," Father all but purred, like a cat playing with a mouse. "I know powers like the ones you have don't come from chimera transmutations. They come from something very different, don't they? How far gone were you during his experiments, that you ended up _there_?"

His voice was confident, condescending, sure of his power...but the illusion of power was swiftly shattered when Winry turned and walked away.

"Go see your brother," she called over her shoulder, "And maybe he'll give you some tips about living a normal life."

Not Winry held out much hope. Father's world had just crumbled around him, all the power robbed from a being who had always prized power above all else. Winry suspected he'd suicide as soon as he could. While she felt a bit of regret, she bolstered herself with the knowledge that it was his choice – she wasn't killing him, she'd let him live. What he did with that life wasn't her concern.

"By the way, Colonel," she said as she passed her puzzled friends. "Envy was the one who killed Hughes."

Winry touched Riza's arm, pulling the remnants of the Daemon's essence from her body. It wouldn't have actually _done_ anything to the lieutenant, but Winry just wanted to tie up every loose end.

She could read the questions in everyone's eyes, but didn't have the strength to deal with them at the moment.

Winry left, and the others simply followed.

**oooooooo**

_AN: We don't know much about Pride, so I decided to leave him out of the larger battle, and only have him just coming in at the end, to confirm his destruction. I just didn't feel comfortable writing him when I know so little about him (at least, I'm assuming it's a him)._


	20. December 29th to December 30th

**Chapter 20**

**December 29th – December 30th**

_December 29th – Military Headquarters, Central_

"I can tell you right now, everyone will be in uproar," Roy muttered. "The Fuhrer's gone, which means everyone with stripes will be scrambling for the position."

"You might be a pretty good candidate," Winry pointed out. "From a public standpoint."

"How?" Mustang huffed.

"Oh, say...if someone were to leak to the papers about the Fuhrer being a monster, about how you were the one to try to expose him, and finally brought him down...that might garner a lot of public support, wouldn't you say?" Winry elaborated.

"That's not a bad idea, sir," Riza pointed out, hiding a small smile.

"I'll blab to someone tomorrow," Winry offered.

Jade, Earnest, Joseph and the others had returned to the cellar. They had escaped with only minor wounds, for which Winry was deeply grateful. Ling was recovering nicely – he was currently dozing in Ed's room, with plans to find his way to Rush Valley tomorrow and seek out Ran-fan.

Secretly, Winry thought it was very cute – she was fairly certain the affectionate thoughts Ling radiated at the mention of Ran-fan weren't just friendly regard.

"Winry," Ed murmured, "What...what was Father talking about."

The question had bothered Ed all the way back the the military headquarters. Father, while clearly unhinged, had obviously known what he was talking about. And the words rang in Ed's ears, _'Mangeli doesn't have the finesse, the skill, to make something like you'_.

Winry's eyes met his, and the look in them was almost...wary. "What he said was true...at least, to some extent."

"But how?" Al asked, sounding distressed. "How are you different from all the others-?"

"Many differences," Winry cut in. "For example, this-" she conjured her white fire in the palm of her hand "-none of them could do this. They all had the enhanced strength and agility that I have, but in them, the animal was all tangled up with the human. In me, the distinction is quite clear. I have wings growing out of my back, but I don't have a beak or feathers all over my body or anything of the sort."

"Might look a little on the strange side," Roy admitted.

"Oh, and these aren't?" Winry opened her wings.

"I like your wings," Al said suddenly. "They look pretty – and they make you look just like an angel."

Winry beamed. "Thanks, Al."

"What else is different?" Riza asked, curious in spite of herself.

"My enhanced healing rate," Winry supplied. "My ability to nullify alchemy, and see those with the Daemon within them or the Daemon's essence. And I don't think any of them had telepathy."

"Telepathy?" Ed echoed.

"Only mild," Winry shrugged. "I keep it blocked most of the time – just common courtesy, you know? Not to go poking through other people's private thoughts and all that, but there are some things I can't help."

"Like what?" Roy was starting to feel uncomfortable at the prospect of Winry being able to hear some of his thoughts.

"Emotions, mainly," Winry explained. "A strong feeling of love, hate, anger, compassion, any emotion...and I'll pick it up if I'm close by. Lies are the same – I can sense when someone's not telling the truth. I don't automatically know what the truth is – I need my telepathy for that – but I know when someone isn't being truthful."

Everyone digested that for several moments.

"I'm not a natural blonde," Riza said suddenly.

Winry raised her eyebrows. "Liar. Interesting test, by the way."

"But why are you so different?" Ed mused, with the air of one who was thinking aloud.

"Something obviously went wrong during the transmutation process," Winry said, not exactly lying, but certainly omitting. She wasn't sure why she was imposing such secrecy on her deal with Truth, all she knew was that she didn't feel comfortable with the others knowing. Not now.

"How do you know that?" Roy asked, his eyes wary.

"I have my sources. Earnest is Mangeli's son, and he told me most of what his father was planning." It was true – Earnest had told her a lot about what his father had planned. She'd just garnered the majority of her knowledge from what Truth gave her.

"Poor kid," Mustang sighed. "There's no record of Mangeli having a child – if there was, Earnest would have been removed from his custody. Mangeli would have been declared an unfit guardian for certain."

"No doubt about that," Winry chuckled. "But Earnest's alright...considering he was raised by a psychopath."

"What did he tell you?" Riza's face was honestly puzzled.

"The transmutation was meant to turn Mangeli's 'subjects' into chimeras and brainwash them at the same time. While I _did_ get turned into a chimera, I slipped through the cracks on the brainwashing thing and the Daemon essence just didn't stick."

"I wonder why," Ed muttered.

Winry didn't reply.

"Well," Roy let out a gusty sigh. "There's not much we can do except sit and wait for the dust to settle."

"I'll second that," Winry chuckled. "Mind if I crash in your room?" she asked Ed and Al.

"I think we'll do the same," Ed groaned, staggering to his feet. "I'm beat."

The three teenagers – Al included – trooped out the door.

**oooooooo**

_December 29th – Military Headquarters, Central_

"I'm exhausted!" Winry exclaimed theatrically, laying on the second bed in Ed and Al's room.

Ling had taken the couch – Ed insisted it was so the 'mooching jerk' could sneak out whenever he wanted to. Winry thought the prince's rather furtive look put paid to that theory, but she had a good idea why he had looked that way.

After all, Winry had pulled Greed from his body, but she had done nothing about the Philosopher's Stone. And if Ling still had it...Winry thought that was a pretty good reason to be a little cautious.

To her surprise, Ed flopped down next to her on the sheets. "I'm not surprised you're beat," he said, "After all, you were the one doing the real fighting out there."

"Please," Winry snorted. "Like I'd have lasted five seconds if you guys hadn't kept the homunculi off me."

"Still, I'm pretty sure credit for that win goes to you. It was your strategy, after all," Ed pointed out.

"Maybe so," Winry rolled onto her stomach, noticing the pensive look on Ed's face. "What're you thinking about?"

"Deep and meaningful thoughts," Ed defended, gently tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

"About what?"

"You...me...us...I like that there's an 'us', you know that, right?"

"You may be the sweetest man I've ever dated," Winry grinned, kissing him on the lips.

When they drew away, Ed blinked. "Didn't you once tell me I'm the only man you've ever dated?"

"My point exactly. You're the sweetest man I've ever dated, in a pool of one."

"Why don't I feel flattered?" Ed grumbled, but kissed her again.

"That reminds me!" Winry shrieked suddenly. "How did your automail hold up?"

She pulled the metal arm towards her while Ed shook his head in sheer bemusement at the enigma that was Winry Rockbell.

**oooooooo**

_December 29th – Military Headquarters, Central_

Roy stared down at his papers without really seeing them. He was concentrating on breathing deeply, and trying not to think about the chaos about to be unleashed on the military.

He was also doing his best to drag his mind away from the picture of Envy transforming into Riza.

"Strange..." he murmured.

"What's strange, sir?" Riza asked, shuffling the forms stacked on top of her own desk.

"That, while Envy was the one to murder Hughes, I couldn't kill him."

"Only because Winry disabled Father before you could kill Envy."

Roy shook his head. "It's not that. It's that I don't think I could have killed him."

Riza looked at him, her eyes confused. "Why not, sir? If I may ask."

"He kept turning into you," Roy said softly.

"Sir?"

"Whenever I was about to strike out at him, or attack him with my flames...Envy turned into you," Roy snorted self-depreciatingly. "He knew I couldn't hurt him while he looked like you. I don't think I could have killed him while he was wearing your face. I suppose this makes me a coward, but in a way, I'm glad I got closure without actually having to do the deed myself."

Roy bent his head to his papers, and didn't look up again. Riza spent several minutes staring at him, completely lost. Was he saying...? Her brain began tallying all of these instances, all of these hints, coupling them with what Winry had told her...

For a moment, clarity was almost upon her.

But then the phone rang, and the moment was lost.

**oooooooo**

_December 30th – Train 11, In Transit to Rush Valley_

Ling sat on the train, ignoring the stares and whispers as people pointed him out as Xingese. 'Ignoring' wasn't really the right word – he didn't even notice them. He was staring out the window, and his mind was far too occupied with thoughts of another person.

Ran Fan.

Winry had told him it had been nearly a year since he'd become Greed. Nearly a year, in which Ran Fan had done...what? Where was she? What was she doing now?

He'd long ago accepted he could never act on his feelings towards his bodyguard. It was not because of cowardice – he'd had several indications over the years that she certainly returned his feelings – it was mainly because of their conflicting social status.

In the eyes of the kingdom, all Ran Fan could ever hope to be was his concubine, and he certainly wouldn't insult her by asking her to take a menial position in his life. He couldn't marry her – his father would insist on him taking a wife from one of the noble families. So Ling had simply filed his love for Ran Fan in the ever-growing pile of 'never to be'.

At least, that was before. Now...

Now, Ling found he simply didn't care.

Of course, that could have a lot to do with the Philosopher's Stone currently resting in his pocket.

Winry had managed to pull the homunculus from his body (though how Edward Elric's mechanic had gained such powers he couldn't understand), but she had done nothing about the Philosopher's Stone.

He'd felt nauseous when they returned to military headquarters, but chalked it up to an unsettled body. Until, lying on the couch in the Elric brother's room, he'd choked, gagged, and spat a small red stone onto the floor.

He'd known instantly what he was looking at.

It had been unmistakable. He'd snatched it from the floor and stuffed it into one of his pockets, keeping one hand curled around it at all times. With this, he could become emperor. And as the emperor...far from being above the law, he _made_ the law.

If he became emperor, he could marry the woman he loved.

And now, he was on his way to see her.

The Elrics had told him that they had been planning to introduce Ran Fan to Winry to get automail attached, but something had interfered in their plans. Ling had no idea what had happened, but he supposed it didn't matter now. What was important was that he had no real idea of where to find Ran Fan – though Rush Valley, the so-called 'holy ground of automail', seemed the best place to start.

His fist clenched around the stone in his pocket, and his other hand unconsciously made the Xingian sign for good luck.

He had to find her.

**oooooooo**

_December 30th – Main Street, Rush Valley_

"Excuse me, have you seen a woman around here? She's about medium height, black hair, dark eyes..."

Ling had been asking the same question for the better part of an hour. And he'd been getting the same replies. While he got some vague mumbles about a woman who 'might have looked like that', the majority of the answers told him nothing.

Where was she?

**oooooooo**

_December 30th – Outskirts of Rush Valley_

Ling slumped onto a flat rock outside the town. He'd gone through the entire town without seeing Ran Fan, nor finding anyone who had seen her themselves.

Ling put his head in his hands. Amestris was a big country, with many automail mechanics – was it possible she'd gone somewhere else? And if she had, where? Or had she gone back to Xing?

Ling was just beginning to resign himself to a long, exhausting search when he heard a voice.

"Young Master?"

He froze. Slowly, his head rose from his hands, staring at the speaker.

She looked...older. She had grown a little – not much, maybe only a few inches or so. Her hair was a little longer, her skin darkened ever-so slightly by the sun. Her left arm was automail, reflecting the sharp glare of the sun. She had obviously been practicing – her sword was held in a loose grasp by her side, her skin was shining with sweat, and her clothes were covered in dust and dirt.

And Ling thought he'd never seen anything quite so beautiful in all his years at the emperor's court.

"Ran Fan!"

She was gaping at him, as immobile as if she had turned to granite.

It seemed perfectly natural to rise and go to her. Perfectly natural to take her in his arms. Perfectly natural to cup her face, and dip his head to kiss her. Perfectly natural to hold her just that bit tighter when she returned the kiss.

But the feeling of utter peace that washed through him was not what Ling had expected. Perhaps it was the lingering utter confidence of the immortal, perhaps it was simply that Ling had finally learned life was short. Whatever it was, he felt stunningly calm about this.

This was what he wanted. And to hell with anyone who said he couldn't have it, to hell with anyone who said it was wrong.

To hell with anyone who tried to take her from him.

Of course, Ling knew that Ran Fan would not have been happy if she heard that thought. She could protect herself far better then he could – and she knew it. He didn't doubt her abilities, he just couldn't help his possessive streak.

"Young Master?" she whispered when they drew away.

"I have the Philosopher's Stone," Ling whispered.

Then he kissed her again.

He was mildly irked that she was still calling him 'Young Master' – after _kissing_ him, no less...but he wasn't overly worried.

After all, they had the Philosopher's Stone, and they had each other.

Everything else they would work out in time.

**oooooooo**

_AN: I know that Ran-fan didn't go to Rush Valley in the latest manga chapters, but I conjured up the idea for this story after chapter 55, and I fully expected Ran-fan to go to Rush Valley and so set up my story like that._

_Originally, I planned to have no romance between Ling and Ran Fan, but when I was actually writing this chapter, I couldn't resist. I just think they make such an adorable pairing...but they are hard to write, so if my characterisations are off, I apologise._


	21. December 31st to January 1st

**Chapter 21**

**December 31st – January 1st**

_AN: While the rest of this story might not have been exactly mature, this chapter probably sets the rating. Mentions of sex – you have been warned!_

**oooooooo**

_December 31st – Riza's Apartment, Central_

"How long to go?" Winry asked.

Riza checked her watch. "Just under seven minutes."

Winry sighed, swinging her legs where they dangled over the railing.

Ed, Al, Roy and Riza were up there with her, on the roof of Riza's apartment as they waited for the New Year fireworks to go off.

"So...still no word on who's Fuhrer now?" Ed asked.

Roy shook his head.

"Even after the story in the papers," Winry mused. "If I were the top brass, I'd have hired you already."

Ed snorted. "Winry, if you were the top brass, I doubt Wrath would ever have been Fuhrer in the first place."

"Point taken."

There were several moments of silence, before Riza called out, "One minute."

Winry's eyes rose to the sky, silently counting down under her breath.

**oooooooo**

_January 1st – Riza's Apartment, Central_

Sixty seconds later, fireworks shot into the sir, exploding in glittering streams of colour and bathing the rooftop in rainbow-hued light.

"Wow..." Al's voice was filled with awe.

Winry laughed, the sound stuttered with bolts of pure joy. Ed slipped his arms around her waist and hugged her tightly.

It seemed crazy, but in this moment, she felt like she really could start anew with the new year.

**oooooooo**

_January 1st – Military Headquarters, Central_

Winry barely noticed when her back thudded against the wall of Ed's bedroom – she was too involved in the kiss. She could feel the harsh metal of Ed's automail arm digging into her waist as part of the bookcase jabbed into her wing, but Winry couldn't have cared less.

Ed seemed to be trying to re-orientate himself, trying to remember the layout of the room so he could move them somewhere more comfortable. Winry admitted to herself that she wasn't making it easy for him – her hands were tangled in his hair, keeping his lips meshed firmly against hers.

So when the world tilted and she felt soft cushions against her back, she didn't realise they'd fallen onto the bed until she flicked her eyes to the side and was met with the sight of the rumpled blankets. Ed hadn't made his bed.

Winry yelped as Ed nibbled gently on her neck, just the curve of her jaw. "Ed! Stop it – you know I'm ticklish!"

"And I still say that's the weirdest place to be ticklish in," Ed replied, his voice muffled as he moved lower.

The physical contact was beginning to make her slightly giddy, and let her hands fall from his hair, travelling along his back to press him tightly to her.

And she froze. Ed's hips had ground into her stomach, allowing her to feel his very _physical_ reaction to their closeness.

Ed drew away, and their eyes locked. They'd never gone this far before. They'd kissed and fooled around, sure, but they'd never actually...

Keeping his eyes on hers, watching for any sign of hesitation, Ed removed his shirt. Winry grinned, a little bashfully, and removed her own shirt. She almost laughed at the look in Ed's eyes – as though she were some science experiment he wanted to examine and catalogue from every angle.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," he muttered, sounding dazed. "Just...are you really okay with this?"

Winry grinned again. "Definitely. But do you...I mean...should I...pull in my wings?"

Ed blinked. For the first time, he realised that the transformation had been quite a blow to Winry's self-esteem. He remembered what she'd told him after undergoing hypnosis – that now she knew what she was meant to be like, she felt like a freak. Some part of Winry was still uncertain about her wings, still focusing on the way they made her strange, instead of the way they made her beautiful.

In answer, Ed gently laid his automail hand over her feathers. "I'm not perfect, either, Winry."

Winry felt her eyes begin to tear. _'Of course, he had to go and say something sweet like that!'_

She could see in his eyes that he wasn't just saying it, either. He was truly at ease with the way she was, the same way she was at ease with his automail. They were far from perfection, but that didn't matter, not here, not now, and not to each other.

Ed had noticed the moisture in Winry's eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Winry sniffed. "This is good crying...what you said was so sweet!"

"Oh." Ed calmed slightly. "Good crying?"

"Happy crying, joyful crying, overwhelmed-by-love crying, absolutely-" Winry paused. "Look, just keep going, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am," Ed snorted, dipping his head to nibble on her collar bone.

There was little talking after that.

**oooooooo**

_January 1st – Military Headquarters, Central_

For years afterward, Winry would cherish the memory of her first time, not minding that it was slightly awkward, or that it hurt a little, or that he ended a little too soon. What she would remember was the way Ed had touched and caressed her – firmly, insistently, but at the same time filled with aching tenderness. The look in his eyes, as though he couldn't believe this was really happening. The way he had explored every inch of her body, as though trying to brand the sight and taste and feel of her into his mind.

It wasn't all magic and tenderness, though. There were some brief moments of awkwardness, such as when Ed had struggled with the clasps on her bra. But that was replaced by something with its own brand of magic – shared laughter as Winry finally reached back and undid it herself.

"How come you can undo that thing without even looking at it?" Ed had whined.

"Because," Winry had managed to get out between kisses. "I've been doing it since I was thirteen. You wear a bra for over four years and see how good you are at taking them off."

"No thanks, I'd rather take _yours_ off."

"We'll see how much practice it takes before you get it right."

And there had been a few seconds of panic when they realised they had no protection. Ed had ended up somehow transmuting a condom from the rubber in his hair tie.

"I don't want to know how you did that," Winry had said when he had finished his hasty alchemy. "What happens when people ask you what happened to your hair tie?"

"I lie."

Then he'd kissed her again, and anything she might have said died in her throat.

And what Winry would always remember, was the way he cried out her name when he climaxed.

**oooooooo**

_January 1st – Military Headquarters, Central_

"I feel...different," Ed whispered.

Winry giggled. "You sound so surprised."

Their situation felt almost surreal. They were lying in Winry's bed (having moved from Ed's for obvious reasons), covered only by her sheets, stark naked and lying in each other's arms. They hadn't even showered yet. At the moment, Winry was too comfortable to even consider moving, in spite of the sweat drying on their skin. Her head rested on Ed's chest, and his arm was wrapped around her shoulders, gently

"I didn't expect it to...to be like that." Ed's voice was still filled with wonder.

"What did you expect it to be like?" Winry traced the scars where automail joined flesh

Pause. "I don't know."

Winry laughed again. "You're priceless, Ed."

His hand had been stroking her shoulder, and ran down her arm to caress her wing. "Winry..."

He hesitated, and Winry smiled encouragingly.

"Did you...I mean, I've read books, and I, uh...did you...?"

"If you're trying to ask if I had an orgasm, the answer is no. Better luck next time, stud." Winry wasn't feeling cheated. After all, she'd heard that few women climaxed the first time – must be the discomfort.

But Ed, aside from blushing like a ripe tomato at the word 'orgasm', looked stricken. "You didn't...like it?"

_'Men and their insecurities,'_ Winry thought in exasperation. "Ed, I liked it. But not enough to climax – at least, not this time. As I said, better luck next time."

"You're not mad?" Ed's relief was almost palpable.

"Nope," Winry's arm slipped to his waist, giving him a quick hug. "Though I can't help wondering what books you've been reading..."

Ed chuckled. "I was in the military by the time I was twelve, remember? When I kept hearing these jokes I didn't understand, I...I read up on some things."

"Some things, huh?" Winry teased. Then she yawned, snuggling up against him and closing her eyes.

"Really not mad?" Ed asked again.

"If you keep asking me that, I _will_ get mad," Winry replied without opening her eyes. "Sleep now, talk later."

"Good point," Ed muttered, settling himself in. "What's the time?"

"Something in the early hours of the morning, now sleep."

They both drifted off, still curled together.

**oooooooo**

_AN: This was my first time describing sex (even if the descriptions were fairly non-explicit and the actual sex occurred off-screen), so I'm curious – how did I go? I always thought the Ed/Winry 'first time' would be a gentle, slightly teasing, and above all, tender scene. I tried to bring it across in my writing, but I'm still a bit worried about it, even with the wonderful LaughingAstarael as my beta for this chapter._


	22. January 2nd to March 4th

**Chapter 22**

**January 2nd – March 4th**

_January 2nd – Hidden Cellar, Central_

Winry's eyes were screwed shut, and she was trying desperately to force her senses out even farther. While she had been able to locate Hohenheim and Father easily, she couldn't sense Mangeli. When she closed her eyes and concentrated, all she saw was darkness.

A headache began to hammer at her temples, but Winry ruthlessly pushed the pain away, trying to push herself even farther...

She nearly jumped a mile when someone touched her shoulder. "Winry?"

Winry relaxed. It was Jade. "Yeah?"

"Are you okay? Your fists were clenched and you were gritting your teeth."

"I was trying to find Mangeli," Winry sighed. "No luck. I just can't sense him. I started getting a headache."

Jade's eyes were worried. "Well, take a break, okay? If your head starts hurting, it usually means you're pushing yourself too hard."

"Right," Winry sighed again, but tried to do as her friend suggested.

She wandered to her makeshift bed and fell into it, closing her eyes as she tried to drift off to sleep.

_'A little nap,'_ she told herself. _'Just a little nap, and then I'll try again.'_

**oooooooo**

_January 3rd – Military Headquarters, Central_

"Better this time?" Ed smirked, pulling the sheets over their bodies.

"Definitely," Winry grinned, stretching languorously.

She hid a smile in his shoulder when she realised that Ed was unconsciously caressing her back and wings.

"Any luck with Mangeli?" she heard him ask.

Winry sighed. "Not so much. I'm not getting anything, not matter how hard I try."

"You'll get it," Ed assured her. "You'll find him."

Winry giggled suddenly. "Doesn't it strike you as funny that our pillowtalk is discussing whether I've found a psychotic alchemist?"

Ed seemed to think on it. "No."

Winry hid her face in his shoulder again, but he saw her head shaking.

"Are you laughing?" he accused.

"Maybe." Stifled mirth rang in every syllable of Winry's voice.

"Why? What's so funny?"

"Nothing." Winry's head finally rose from his skin. "Just promise me we'll never be normal, okay?"

"Uh...okay," Ed promised, blinking down at her, obviously completely clueless.

Winry grinned, and hugged him tightly.

**oooooooo**

_January 12th – Military Headquarters, Central_

Roy still couldn't believe it.

He was in his new office, sitting at his new desk, and he still couldn't believe it.

Sure, Winry had mentioned he would be a prime candidate, from a public standpoint, but he'd never actually expected to get that kind of promotion!

Colonel Roy Mustang was now Fuhrer Roy Mustang.

He still couldn't believe it.

For one, the rise in the ranks alone was phenomenal. He couldn't ever remember anyone who had been made Fuhrer before their mid-forties, at least. He knew such a rise had probably garnered his a lot of jealous and spiteful enemies, but he figured those could be dealt with later.

Another factor was that they'd actually elected him. His record wasn't exactly stellar – he was fairly certain there were several write-ups for insubordination in there somewhere.

And they wanted him to be _Fuhrer_?

Roy still couldn't believe it.

When Riza stepped into his office and dumped a stack of papers on his desk, he was almost grateful for the assurance that some things would never change.

**oooooooo**

_January 21st – Military Headquarters, Central_

Riza smiled at the laughter emanating from the Fuhrer's office. It hadn't taken long for Mustang to call back Breda, Falman and Fuery to his command. The success of which was now being celebrated with a good drink or seven.

Riza opened the door...and came the closest to having a heart attack she'd ever been since the Ishbal campaign.

Jean Havoc was standing – _standing!_ - in the center of the room, grinning like a fool as everyone gathered around and plied him with drinks.

"Hey, Lieutenant," he grinned. "Notice anything different?"

Riza was rather pleased her jaw hadn't dropped. Might have ruined her image.

"You can walk," she stated. It might not have been one of her stellar moments of ingenuity, but it was all her stalled brain would provide.

"I can walk." Havoc's grin came dangerously close to cracking his face.

"Now spill!" Breda ordered, thumping his hand down on his friend's shoulder. "You promised to tell us what happened when Hawkeye got back!"

"I don't know what happened," Havoc admitted sheepishly. "This woman came into my hospital room, and I thought she was a nurse. But then...this sounds so weird...but I was lying on my side, and she just ran her hand up my back, and I felt...it was like I felt something click into place. I started to ask her what she did, but she was gone...just like that."

_'Winry?'_ was Riza's first thought. _'But how could she...?'_

**oooooooo**

_January 21st – Hidden Cellar, Central_

Winry moaned, replacing the cool compress on her head. She had a headache that felt like an entire tap-dancing chorus were jumping around in nail-boots and riding jackhammers through her skull. Not to mention, she felt as drained as if she'd just swam fifty miles through thick syrup and run a marathon up a mountain.

And it had seemed like such a good idea at the time.

After all, she had seen Truth, she had been imbued with a part of the Gate...so shouldn't that mean she could use alchemy? And probably without regards to that Equivalent Exchange thing Ed was always harping about.

She'd wandered into the hospital, and seized a medical book from the shelf in the waiting room. She'd brushed up on her knowledge about the human spine and nervous system and how everything aligned, before making her way to Jean Havoc's room.

Winry thought she should probably be worried about how easy it was to sneak into his hospital room.

After that, it had been easy. A simple touch. A brush of her fingers over the area, and...

She'd healed him, yes, but Winry had been totally unprepared for the way it would drain her. Totally unprepared for the pounding headache and the throbbing in every muscle.

Oh yes, she definitely should have started small.

Well, this fiasco had proved one thing – that she drew her power from somewhere from a different source than most alchemists. While they drew their energy from the world around them, in the principle of Equivalent Exchange, she – like Father, Hohenheim and Mangeli – could ignore that principle.

But it seemed that the energy for the transmutation came from her own body.

_'Note to self,' _she thought, _'Never perform alchemy again.'_

**oooooooo**

_January 31st – Military Headquarters, Central_

"Any luck?" Ed asked as Winry's eyes opened.

"Nothing," she practically growled. "Not. A. Thing. I've been searching for Mangeli for over a month _and I still haven't found anything!_"

Ed winced a little at Winry's strident volume. She had been getting increasingly frustrated over her inability to find Mangeli. She seemed almost desperate to find him.

Ed, on the other hand, was more than willing to breathe a little easier now that Father and the homunculi were gone. Mustang might be a bastard, but as the Fuhrer he would make sure nothing like that ever happened again. Not to mention that Mustang's little gang was now back – including Havoc, who had apparently had a near-miraculous recovery which he blamed on a woman who's face he never really saw. That bothered Ed a little – if she could heal Havoc, he had some questions regarding getting his brother's body back.

It didn't escape Ed how strange it was for Winry to be the driven one, and he the one who was actually willing to relax.

"So how do feel about coming to another of Mustang's parties tonight?"

"Another one?" Winry raised her eyebrows, a look of disbelief plastered across her face. "How many times does he need to celebrate?"

Ed shrugged. Frankly, he didn't care. It was free food, and wine, if they could sneak some. And time spent with Winry was always time well-spent.

**oooooooo**

_January 31st – Military Headquarters, Central_

Under the cover of the raucous party, Winry managed to drag Al away to talk to him.

"Al, I haven't really had a chance to ask you this, but...are you...okay? With the way Ed and I are now?"

"Of course, Winry!" Winry could tell from his tone that if armour smiled, Al would be be beaming.

"Really?"

"Yeah! You've always been like a sister to me, and now...it's like you're even more of a sister."

Winry grinned, wrapping her arms around Al in a brief hug he couldn't feel. "By the way, do you know what Ed wants for his birthday?"

**oooooooo**

_February 3rd – Military Headquarters, Central_

"Why are you blushing?" Al asked, the picture of innocence.

Ed glared at Winry over her 'gift' of assorted hair ties. Winry was nearly doubled over with laughter, wiping tears of mirth from her cheeks.

"Very funny, Winry," Ed gritted out, his voice drowning in sarcasm. "Hilarious."

"Don't worry," she managed to gasp out. "I'll give you your real present later."

Al got the distinct feeling he was missing a private joke.

"What about my present?" Al suddenly chimed in. "You said it was going to be late, but it's been over a month!"

"About that..." Winry said, "There's been a...delay. It'll take a while yet. Same for Ed's."

"Who is making them?" Ed couldn't help asking.

"No one special," Winry hedged.

_'Just an omnipotent being with whom I struck a bargain.'_

**oooooooo**

_February 24th – Military Headquarters, Central_

"Still nothing?" Earnest asked, looking sympathetic.

Winry groaned in response.

Last night, she'd pushed herself to her limit, stretching her senses as far she could. Winry had persevered through the headache, the muscle cramps, and the nausea. Until Jade had shouted in her ear, yanking her out of her trance.

Apparently, she'd been biting her lip hard enough to draw blood, and Jade had noticed the trickle of crimson on her chin.

And still, she had nothing.

"Do you think flying might help?" Earnest commented, passing Winry a glass of water.

Winry's eyes cracked open. "That's actually not a bad idea, Earnest."

"You'll try it?"

"Why not?"

**oooooooo**

_March 3rd – Hidden Cellar, Central_

Winry perched on the rafters, using the cavern-like roof as a natural amplifier.

"I'm still searching for Mangeli," Winry announced to the horde of faces. "But I've yet to sense him at all. I don't know if he's found a way to block my ability, or how he would have known about it in the first place if that's the case, but I do know I'm not giving up. Tomorrow, I'm going to fly above Central, and see if I can sense him beyond the borders of Amestris."

There were scattered shouts of encouragement.

"I hope that most of you realise this fight is going to much worse than the one we faced with Father?"

Most of the crowd nodded.

"Father concentrated on the alchemical abilities his Daemon gave him, but Mangeli will have concentrated on the strength and power it gifted. There is a chance that we won't survive."

She'd do everything she could to protect them, of course, but there was only so much she could do in the heat of battle.

To Winry's surprise, the crowd nodded.

"And you're all okay with this?" Winry asked in disbelief.

Nods and murmurs of assent were her only reply.

Winry felt herself getting emotional. "Thank you," she said quietly.

"But we are left with a pressing problem," Winry continued. "What are all of you going to do when this is over?"

Some murmurs, most sounding unsure and wary.

"I bring it up now because this is something that needs to be thought about-" Winry cut herself off as Jade stepped from the throng.

"I think I speak for everyone here," Jade began, "When I say we'll return to the surface, and make our way from there. Every one of us here has an extremely marketable skill, and we'll have no trouble finding a job."

Somewhat reassured, Winry breathed a sigh of relief. But it was momentary, as her mind reminded her of Earnest. What would he do?

So as the mingled crowd began to disperse, Winry glided to him. "Earnest?"

He turned to her, his eyes curious. "Yeah?"

"What are you going to do?" Winry asked in a low voice.

Earnest grinned, revealing teeth almost as white as his skin. "Don't worry – Jade says she'll look after me."

This time, the tension in Winry's shoulders truly eased. Every one of her little group knew what they were going to do when this was over. They would be alright.

**oooooooo**

_March 4th – Military Headquarters, Central_

"I'll be fine Ed, really," Winry said, trying to convince Ed her little sojourn above the clouds wasn't going to end up with her in a crumpled heap on the ground.

"You're sure?" Ed asked, trying to resist the urge to tell her to be back by dinner.

Fortunately, Al spoke for him. "When are you going to be back?"

"By evening, at the very latest. I won't spend days flying around, if that's what you mean – it'd be way too tiring."

With a final wave, Winry shot into the sky like a bullet, soaring into the clouds.

Ed watched her until she was out of sight, trying to quell the uneasiness in his gut.

**oooooooo**

_March 4th – In Flight Above Central_

Winry hovered just below the clouds, sending out her senses, trying to reach that single spark...

She almost fell from the sky when she realised that she could sense the spark. And it was coming from in front of her...at the same level!

Was Mangeli on a mountain of some kind?

Winry didn't waste time, angling her body and beginning to fly in the direction of the spark.

**oooooooo**

_March 4th – In Flight Above White Mountain_

The steady, powerful beats of Winry's wings ate up the distance like fire. The low clouds stuck to her skin and clothes in tiny beads of water. It wasn't long before she was forced to surround her body in her white fire just to keep dry.

So when the clouds suddenly disappeared from around her, it was quite a shock.

She practically exploded from their grey, damp masses and into a small opening within them. And within the opening was...

Winry's jaw dropped, and it was only sheer instinct that kept her wings beating.

A building was right in front of her – made of grey stone with small, slit-like windows. But its appearance wasn't what shocked Winry. The entire building seemed to be suspended on a writhing, twisting column of pure black shadow.

Mangeli's laboratory was suspended fifty feet above the very tip of White Mountain.

Suddenly, the realisation that anyone could look out the windows and see her sent Winry spinning around and rocketing back the way she had come.

_'Gee, Mangeli,'_ she thought. _'Conspicuous, much?'_

But on the other hand, his new laboratory's support rested on the very top of White Mountain, where almost no one ever went.

And anyone who had ever managed to get close enough to see it was probably killed by his creatures.

On the plus side, it meant he hadn't found something to block her powers, Winry had just been thinking in the wrong direction. Whenever she had tried to sense, she had always sent her senses _out_, instead of _up_.

Still, it did nothing to her mood to think on how much power Mangeli had to have to be able to do something like that.


	23. March 4th to March 18th

**Chapter 23**

**March 4th – March 18th**

_AN: Sorry to all my reviewers – the site isn't letting me reply to the reviews again. Nor does it seem to be registering my chapters, but I'll keep posting them anyway. This has happened a few times, but no matter how much I report it, it always seems to come back every now and then._

**oooooooo**

_March 4th – Military Headquarters, Central_

It was sunset by the time Winry's feet touched the roof of the military headquarters. She had flown back as fast as she could, and now her wings were trembling, sweat was pouring down her skin, and she was gasping for air.

"Winry!" She felt Ed's arms around her. "Winry, are you okay?"

"Fine," she gasped out. "I found Mangeli."

"What? Where?"

"The top of White Mountain."

Winry took another deep breath, trying to steady the rapid thunder of her heart. "I need to tell the others, I need..." the world spun around her for a few moments "...I need some sleep."

"Take it easy," Ed soothed, holding her tightly. Winry was grateful for the support – she was beginning to feel as though she were about to pass out.

"You can tell everyone in the morning," Ed pointed out. "But right now, you look as though you're about to collapse! How fast did you fly?"

Winry acknowledged his point – she hadn't exactly shown good judgement as far as her speed went. If she'd taken the return journey a little slower, she would be in better shape now.

But she supposed there was no real hurry to tell everyone about Mangeli. After all, it wasn't like she'd been spotted, and he was hardly going to move his laboratory somewhere else.

So Winry allowed Ed to lead her downstairs without any arguments.

**oooooooo**

_March 5th – Hidden Cellar, Central_

"Now listen up, people," Winry spoke from her usual rafter. She paced from side to side as she talked, her wings trailing behind her. "I've finally found where Mangeli is, but reaching him is not going to be easy. Nor is fighting him. Unlike Father, Mangeli's chimeras are weapons, pure and simple. And while Father had only a few homunculi, Mangeli has dozens of chimeras."

Ed was barely keeping himself from smirking at the looks on the faces of Mustang's crew. While Havoc, Breda, Falman and Fuery had been told that Winry had changed, they had still only remembered her as his mechanic – not as the winged leader walking across rafters as she primed her followers for a deadly battle.

"I know you've been training hard, and in the next few weeks, I want you training even harder. I still need to work out a plan of action – Mangeli has made his new laboratory very hard to get to. I've kept an eye out, but he hasn't attacked any more villages, so there's no hope of catching him by surprise out in the open. We have to take the fight to him – something that may involve a long hike up White Mountain."

She looked down at them all, her blue eyes piercing.

"We need to gather supplies – food, thermal clothing, the works. Assume the climb will take a few days. Even though I should be able to use my powers to smooth out the trail for you, it will still take a long time – there's a reason few people make it to the peak, after all. Now, are we all clear on what must be done?"

A bellow of assent rose from the crowd. Winry grinned.

"And are you with me?"

This time the roars sent dust sailing down from the rafters. Winry laughed, and clapped her hands. Then she opened her wings, and glided to the floor in a rustle of feathers.

"This is really it," Earnest murmured. "We're really going to find him."

Winry took his hand, giving it a compassionate squeeze. She could understand why he was conflicted – no one knew Mangeli's horrors better than Earnest...but Mangeli was still his father. And Winry didn't envy Earnest's position.

**oooooooo**

_March 10th – Military Headquarters, Central_

"Fullmetal!"

Ed jerked awake, to the sound of Mustang pounding on his door. Which would have been mildly annoying any other day, except that today he happened to be in bed, completely naked, with an equally naked Winry beside him. Mildly annoying became an offense Ed could have killed for.

"_Shit,_" he whispered venomously.

Winry stirred against him and muttered something in her sleep.

"Winry!" Ed hissed, "Wake up!"

Winry jolted awake, springing to her feet in a blur of feathers and legs. She stood in the middle of the room, stark naked, her fist glowing with white fire, her blonde hair tangling wildly as it fell down her back.

For a moment, Ed wished he had more time to enjoy the view.

Then Mustang pounded on the door again. "Fullmetal!"

Winry yelped.

"He wants in," Ed explained unnecessarily.

"I can hear that, Ed," Winry hissed, searching the room frantically. "Where are our clothes?"

"You don't know where they are?" Damn. He had been counting on her knowing.

"You don't know where they are either?"

Ed chuckled, a hint of a grin pulling at his lips. "I think we were pretty distracted at the time."

Winry giggled as she found her shirt on the bookshelf.

Mustang pounded on the door again.

"Isn't he Fuhrer now?" Ed grumbled. "Can't he get someone else to do this? Someone with a bit more tact?"

Winry threw his boxers to him as she pulled on the last article of her clothing. "Answer the door in your boxers and robe, and he'll think you've been asleep. I'll go out the window."

"Wait a minute," Ed paused, realising something. "Why are we hiding?"

Winry kissed his cheek as she passed, already opening her wings and preparing to fly back to the cellar. "Because you don't need him teasing you about your love life on top of everything else."

"Good point."

Winry waved, then shot into the sky.

"Fullmetal, open this door or I'm melting the lock."

"Okay, okay!" Ed yelled, trying to sound as though he'd just been woken up. "Jeez, can't even let a guy sleep, can you?"

He pulled open the door, to find Mustang smirking. "Nice try, Fullmetal."

"Nice try, what?"

Mustang took out his watch and tapped it. "Ten minutes since I started knocking before you answered the door, pretending I just woke you up."

"Your point being?" Ed was beginning to get the sinking feeling that Roy was on to him.

The Fuhrer gave a sardonic grin before walking away. "Only that I used the same tactic on my commanding office whenever I had a woman in my quarters."

"_WHAT_?" Ed's shriek could have raised the dead.

**oooooooo**

_March 15th – Hidden Cellar, Central_

Winry was feeling both anxious and excited when she flew up to her usual rafter. Excited, because she had taken a trip to White Mountain and finally mapped out the plan on how they were going to defeat Mangeli. Anxious, because she knew that this was the battle that had the greatest chance of claiming lives.

"I took a trip to White Mountain," she announced. "and I've calculated that the trip to the peak shouldn't take us more than a day if we really push ourselves. But because pushing ourselves is precisely what we _don't_ want to do, we'll stop for the night near the summit, leaving us prepared and rested when we finally attack."

"As for the attack itself, I'll use my powers to knock the laboratory from its support, and send it the ground. Hopefully, this will give us the element of surprise, allowing us better odds on overwhelming his creatures. And you must – you _must_ – attack to kill. The chimeras have a very fast healing rate, and they are totally obedient to him. Killing them is the only way we can ever stop them."

The words hurt. She had never been a killer, nor had she ever condoned killing. But she knew – the knowledge Truth had given her told her – that the chimeras were beyond help. There was nothing anyone could do to bring back the people they had once been.

But it still hurt.

"I want the alchemists to move as fast as they can – alchemy is the weapon with the best chance of causing them lethal damage. Don't waste your time in prolonged fights, if it looks like you can't get your attacks through to the chimera, move on to another one. The aim isn't to tie them up in battle, it's to fell as many as possible so Mangeli can't set them on me while I'm fighting him."

For better or for worse, they were going into battle in four days.

**oooooooo**

_March 18th – Military Headquarters, Central_

"Good news," Roy grinned, setting down the phone. "It took some string-pulling, but we, Fuery, Breda, Havoc and Falman are officially off for the next four days."

"Four days, sir?" Riza raised an eyebrow.

Roy shrugged. "I figured we'd want a few days to rest after the battle."

Riza's eyes slid to the side.

Roy had known her long enough to recognise when something was bothering her. "What is it?"

"Sir, you..." Riza took a deep breath. "You are the Fuhrer. You shouldn't fight with us. Not now."

"I have to," Roy said softly.

"It is not part of your duties," Riza argued. "In fact, as the Fuhrer, it is your duty to keep yourself as safe as possible-"

"Hawkeye!" Roy cut in, stopping her words.

He knew why she was arguing. Mangeli presented a far greater threat than Father, and he had a feeling even Winry's powers weren't going to prevent loss of life. All of them could very well fall beneath the claws and fangs of Mangeli's chimeras.

Suddenly, looking at Riza, Roy was struck with a feeling of liberty. He was the Fuhrer – the head of the military – and they all might die in several days. If this wasn't a time to be honest he didn't know what was.

And Roy made a decision to face head-on what had been terrifying him for nearly five years.

Riza's rejection.

"Hawkeye...Riza," he corrected himself. This shouldn't be done with last names.

He could see the surprise on her face as he used her first name, but didn't bother to explain himself.

"Riza, has it ever occurred to you that I might be as incapable as leaving your side as you seem to be incapable of leaving mine?"

He could tell by the expression on her face that it hadn't.

"Have you ever wondered why Wrath chose to use you – you, and not any of the others – to manipulate me?"

Riza shook her head, and Roy could almost see her scrambling to pick up the threads of the conversation.

"Did you ever suppose that maybe, just maybe, he saw something I thought no one else could see? Something I thought I had hidden too deeply for it to ever be detected?"

When her voice finally worked, Riza was surprised at how hoarse it sounded. "What did he see?"

Roy's lips quirked into a slight smile as he approached her. She wasn't yelling at him, or slapping him, or shooting him. That had to be a good sign, right?

"I think he saw that I was in love with you," Roy admitted. He had a strange urge to close his eyes as he waited for her response, the same way condemned prisoners closed their eyes before the guillotine fell.

But there was no scream, no slap, no bullet. Instead, there was a pair of warm lips on his own, and small, calloused hands sliding around him to pull him against another body.

Roy returned the kiss enthusiastically, and it was Riza who finally broke it.

"Funny," she said with a soft smile, "All these years I thought it was all on my side."

Roy laughed. He couldn't help it. "Trust me, Riza, it has been anything but one-sided."

But then she pulled him into another kiss, and words were forgotten.

Outside, Breda and Havoc took their ears away from the door, and finally stopped eavesdropping.

"Told you," was all Breda said.


	24. March 19th to March 21st

**Chapter 24**

**March 19th – March 21st**

_March 19th – Train 12, In Transit To White Mountain_

"Just out of curiosity, how did you manage to snag this many tickets?" Winry asked Mustang, looking around.

The entire carriage had been booked out, and everyone was relaxing comfortably.

"I'm the Fuhrer," Roy said loftily. "I pulled the 'military business' card."

"Speaking of military business, couldn't you have rustled up a larger force than this, considering you're Fuhrer and all?" Ed commented, stretching out on the seat.

"Probably."

"So why didn't you?"

"Quite simple, the more people we have, the greater the chance of being detected in our trek up the mountain. Once we get over thirty people, it would be almost impossible to make it to Mangeli's lab without everyone knowing we were coming. And if you take Winry's people, our people, and of course, ourselves, that makes it about twenty-six, maybe twenty-seven people here – we're pushing our luck as it is."

"Right," the alchemist's head rested contentedly in Winry's lap, and Ed's eyes closed as she began to play with stray strands of his hair.

Roy smirked, and opened his mouth...

But whatever teasing comment he had been about to make was lost in the strangled gasp he emitted as Riza's heel crashed down onto his foot. He barely managed to stifle a yelp of pain, and turned a baleful glare on his lieutenant. Riza quirked her eyebrows, her stern gaze telling him to behave – or else.

Winry and Ed remained blissfully oblivious. Both had their eyes closed, Winry resting her head against the window, one wing half-resting on Ed's chest and the other against the wall, Ed's head on her lap as her fingers ran gently through his bronze locks. Ed's breathing slowed and gradually evened out, and Winry's fingers relaxed, then ceased altogether moments later.

Both were fast asleep.

**oooooooo**

_March 19th – Train Station, White Mountain_

"So, where are we heading?" Roy asked as he and everyone else around Winry struggled into thermal clothing.

"Up," was all Winry said, pointing to where White Mountain disappeared into the low-hanging clouds.

Unlike the others, thermal clothing wasn't an option for her – it wasn't like the jackets came with wing-warmers. So Winry decided to wrap herself in her white fire, and radiated so much heat that as they began their hike, the snow melted around her, clearing the way for the others.

"Call me crazy, but...won't Mangeli notice that?" Ed asked, pointing to the trail she was leaving in the snow.

"Low hanging cloud, remember?" Winry pointed at the grey mass above their heads. "White Mountain's known for them – we'll be well hidden, trust me."

**oooooooo**

_March 19th – White Mountain, Amestris_

The scream behind Winry was her only warning. She spun around, seeing the snow cave in around Joseph, leaving him teetering on the edge of a ravine. His arms windmilled frantically, trying to keep his balance, his hands reaching forward as others tried to help him.

But they were too late. Joseph tilted, then started to fall...

Only to find himself caught in strong arms as Winry flew from the cliff to snatch him from the air.

"That's why I want you to stay on the path I'm making," Winry warned as she set him back on solid ground. "At least that way, you can see what you're about to fall into."

**oooooooo**

_March 19th – White Mountain, Amestris_

The sun was beginning to sink in the sky, casting shadows on the snow as they continued onward. The snow was getting deeper, needing more of Winry's powers to melt it away.

"Are you okay?" Ed asked her in a low voice when he noticed her wiping her forehead, where beads of sweat had formed despite the arctic environment.

"Fine," Winry forced a smile.

"You're sweating and breathing hard," Ed pointed out.

The fake grin dropped off Winry's face. "My powers don't exactly drain me, but...I've been using them for about eight hours straight, and it's...tiring."

"Well, I think that's a cave coming up," Ed squinted into the distance. "Maybe we can rest there."

**oooooooo**

_March 19th – White Mountain, Amestris_

It was indeed a cave that Ed had spotted. When Winry reached it, she was immediately impressed by its size – they could probably fit the lot of them in it. Though there were still several hours to go until sunset, Winry didn't think it was wise to pass this up – the chances of them finding such a suitable shelter again were very remote. So that only left the problem of making sure they had enough heat.

The entrance was partly blocked with snow, creating a windbreak, and Winry attached her white fire to a snow-covered branch she stole from a tree. It took long minutes of concentration, but Winry finally managed to tweak the pale flames so they only barely illuminated the cave, but radiated heat like a miniature oven.

When Al asked why she did that, Winry explained the less light it gave off, the less chance of their presence being detected.

Dinner came in tins – mainly a watery liquid trying to pass itself as soup. Again, Winry was responsible for heating them, touching the outside of the can and instantly heating the contents. The meal was a sombre affair, most of their minds on the upcoming battle.

When she lay down on the ground, curled close to Ed, Winry knew sleep would be a long time in coming. Ed – with his uncanny ability to sleep anywhere and under any circumstances – was out within moments, but Winry remained alert and aware.

She watched as people slowly dropped off to sleep around her. She hid a smile when Roy took a sleeping Riza's hand when he thought no one was looking.

"Winry?" Al whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Will...will everything be alright...tomorrow?" Al sounded scared.

But then, Winry could empathise. She felt scared herself. It was Mangeli who had kidnapped her, Mangeli who had held her prisoner, Mangeli who had tortured her. Father had been a distant figure – someone she knew _of_, but didn't really _know_ – but Mangeli was different. Father had just been someone she needed to defeat, but Mangeli was the bogeyman of her nightmares...deep inside, some part of her was still terrified of him.

"It'll be fine, Al."

"Winry..." Winry got the distinct feeling that if Al had a body, he would be biting his lip. "Winry...why are you so determined to go after him? You say it's to stop him, but there's...more to it, isn't there?"

Winry gave a shuddering sigh, then eased one hand over to grasp Al's gauntlet. The chill of his armour sent a reflexive shiver through her body, but she didn't remove her hand.

"I can't explain now," Winry told him, her eyes begging Al to trust her. "It will make sense, I promise, but I...can't explain now."

Al nodded. But then again, Winry hadn't really expected anything less from him – Al was probably the most understanding person on the planet.

"Okay..." Al said, "But Winry, you're not going to...get hurt, are you?"

Winry's heart melted. She loved Al like the little brother she never had, and at times, that was exactly how he acted.

"I'll be fine, Al, trust me."

Outside, no one noticed the glittering eyes in the dark, and no one heard the steady beat of leathery wings. And no one noticed the bat-chimera turn in it's flight, winging back to Mangeli to report their presence.

**oooooooo**

_March 20th – White Mountain, Amestris_

It didn't take much. Since she couldn't fly them up to the laboratory one by one, Winry decided to bring the laboratory to them.

Her white fire wrapped around the pillar of black shadow, eating at it like acid. The pillar collapsed in on itself, and the laboratory plummeted to the ground. The impact made the earth beneath their feet tremble, and Winry shielded the others from the blast with her white fire.

Winry had thought that their attack would have the element of surprise, but from the way the chimeras swarmed from the doorway, she realised she had grossly underestimated Mangeli.

Totally unprepared for the first wave, Winry flew into the air and rained white fire down on them in an effort to keep them away from Ed, Al, and the others.

It didn't work.

A large, bat-like creature tackled her to the ground, talons ripping at her face and neck. Winry yelped as she felt her skin open, but simply metaled-up, and dealt the chimera a blow that would have knocked a train from its tracks.

The chimera went flying, but there was another to take its place...and another...and another.

Realising they would be brought down by sheer weight of numbers, Winry began to panic. She hadn't planned for this, hadn't prepared for this!

_'Stupid!'_ she berated herself. _'Stupid, stupid, stupid! Arrogant, cocky idiot!'_

Winry looked around, to find most of those around her were already being held immobile by the chimeras. With a chill, she realised they were being held, not killed. Mangeli obviously had plans for them.

She opened her wings, preparing to take flight once more, when she heard a shout from behind her.

"Winry look out!"

She started to spin, but had only just managed to turn her head when it hit her.

A thick net, seemingly made entirely out of black shadow. Winry went down, and it instantly anchored in the earth, trapping her beneath its fibres. Winry reared up, her wings trying to beat, struggling to free herself from the net's tangles.

But she couldn't break free. The net tightened around her like a living thing, crushing her wings against her body and fouling all her attempts at flight. She summoned her white fire, but as soon as it touched the black net, poisonous violet lightning streaked through her body.

Winry screamed in pain and fell limp, panting heavily. She grasped the net with her hands, trying to hurl it from her, but it constricted like a snake, as though determined to crush her. Held so tightly that the breath wheezed from her lungs, she could barely move her fingers, let alone throw the net away.

She could hear Ed screaming, Al yelling, but all Winry's attention went to the booted feet that stopped beside her head.

"Subject Delta..."

Winry's blood turned to ice water in her veins. She knew that voice. Looking up, she saw the face of the man who had haunted her nightmares.

Mangeli.

A feral snarl burst from her throat. Winry fought the net savagely and nearly won, but then the purple electricity ripped through her once more, leaving her collapsed and shaking on the ground.

"Stay away from her!" Ed bellowed, twisting against the arms of his animalistic captor.

Mangeli paid him no more attention than an annoying fly. He was examining Winry's wings.

"Oh, yes," he purred. "Undoubtedly my greatest work...magnificent...unparalled..."

Winry waited until he was leaning in so close his nose was inches from her right wing. Then she thrashed, just managing to smash her wing into his face.

Winry saw his mouth twist in a snarl as he grabbed the net. This time the electricity was far worse, and she writhed to try and escape from the source of her pain. Blind panic flooded her system as the world went dark, and the last thing she heard was Ed's voice screaming her name.

**oooooooo**

_March 21st – Mangeli's Laboratory, White Mountain_

Ed pounded his fists against the wall of their cage, yelling at the top of his lungs.

He, Al, Roy, Riza, and everyone else had woken in a cell, their weapons gone, their alchemy disabled. His pocket watch told him they'd been out for over twelve hours, and what was worse...

He couldn't see Winry.

Everyone else was in various cells alongside theirs, but Winry was nowhere to be seen. Which meant she was being held somewhere else, probably with Mangeli...and Ed's stomach twisted at the thought of what might be happening to her.

While his current activities were hardly comfortable for his cellmates, all Ed wanted was to attract the attention of Mangeli. And then, he had a chance of finding out what happened to Winry.

He took a deep breath, and began yelling again.

**oooooooo**

_March 21st – Mangeli's Laboratory, White Mountain_

Winry came awake slowly, but kept her eyes closed and her breathing even in case she was being watched. She could hear someone – probably Mangeli – moving around, muttering to himself about impossibilities of nature and alchemy. Subtly, she tried to shift, only to find she was strapped onto a metal exam table, her wings jammed under her body and her limbs spreadeagled.

Well, sneaking away was out. She'd have to blast her way out.

Winry didn't waste a second. She metaled-up, using her white fire to smash her restraints to pieces as she flew into the air.

Mangeli only had time to half-turn towards her before a blast of white fire sent him into the wall. But Winry didn't press her advantage, instead she took off through the corridors, flying at top speed, trying to reach her friends.

**oooooooo**

_March 21st – Mangeli's Laboratory, White Mountain_

Ed's incoherent ranting broke off when the door at the end of the corridor was blasted apart, and Winry flew into the hall.

"Winry!"

"Hey," she greeted, waving at them.

She landed in front of their cell, grasped the bars, and with a sudden effort, bent them so they could escape. Winry repeated the action for every cell in the hall, slowly freeing them all. Ed tried to use his alchemy to help her, and when his efforts proved fruitless, Winry concentrated hard, fighting Mangeli's rein on their alchemy.

She won, and managed to not only free the others to use their alchemy, but also disable Mangeli's in the process. When he found out, she had no doubt he'd be furious.

"Now," she began, speaking rapidly. "I kinda blasted Mangeli into a wall, which will probably piss him off like crazy, and since I also disabled his alchemy, it's only a matter of time before-"

"Get them!" Mangeli bellowed, standing at the head of a pack of chimeras.

"Too late!" Winry yelped, and launched herself into the air.

A bat-chimera lunged after her, but Al seized it by the foot and tossed in to the floor so hard the tiles cracked.

Mangeli's eyes widened as Winry smashed into him, her arms wrapping around him in a bear hug, her momentum carrying him backward and into the corridor. They struck the floor heavily and Winry concentrated, trying to tear the daemon from him.

But Mangeli reached up, and black shadow shot from his hands, driving Winry through the roof and into the sky outside. Her wings opened, catching the air as she hovered in place. Then she angled her body and dived back through the hole she had created like an arrow, slamming Mangeli to the floor with such force that, had the laboratory had still been resting on its pillar of black shadow, it surely would have crumbled.

What surprised her, however, was that Mangeli's black shadow had been sheer, concussive force, not the acid-like blows that Father had dealt. Was that some new trick Mangeli had learned?

It would seem so, for when Mangeli grabbed at her face, Winry could feel her flesh bubbling and melting away like one of Father's blows. She released him, backing away hastily before he could blind her.

For a moment, they faced each other without moving, as though each were sizing the other up. The only sounds were the noise of the battle behind them as Mangeli's chimeras clashed with the others. Winry spared a momentary prayer for the safety of her friends.

Then, suddenly, the lab walls dissolved around them, sinking into the earth. Winry yelped in surprise, and Mangeli staggered back, looking around in astonishment.

Winry risked a glance back, to see Ed wink at her as they worked on drawing the chimeras away. And Winry understood – they wanted to give her a clear shot at Mangeli, so Ed dissolved the laboratory walls to give them all a more open battleground.

If a little more chilly – Winry shuddered as a cold wind bit into her.

But now that she had more room to move, Winry was able to use her wings as a real advantage.

She shot into the sky, neatly dodging the black shadow blast that followed her. She let loose with a rain of white fire, like she had used on Father, in an attempt to set him running. But Mangeli clapped his hands, and black shadow sprang between them, extending in front of him as he opened his arms like a shield. Winry's white fire hit the shield, and both fizzled out in a small burst of smoke.

Winry cursed colourfully as black shadow wrapped Mangeli's body like a cloak, and his fists clenched. She dived out of the way as a blast scorched the tree behind her.

She poured her white fire down on him like hot oil. He screamed, and for a moment, Winry could have sworn the caustic power of her attack reduced him to bare skeleton for a split second.

But then she was hit with an equally ferocious attack from him, and the pain of flesh and muscle crumbling away wiped her mind blank of anything else. Her feathers melted from her wings, and even as she regenerated, Winry was falling. Realising she had no way of avoiding the impact, Winry relied on her now-metal flesh to sustain and survive it.

When she hit the ground, it knocked the breath from her lungs, and was fairly certain she felt more than one rib break. She flipped to her feet as fast as she could, just in time to fend off another attack from Mangeli.

Winry was desperately worried about her friends, but didn't dare take her eyes off Mangeli for even an instant.

Mangeli cupped his hands, allowing a ball of black shadow to pool in his hand. When he threw it at her, it opened like a net. But this time, Winry shifted her fingers into claws and slashed it apart.

_'Why don't I know those kinds of tricks?'_ she thought to herself, even as she attacked again. _'Still, I guess that explains the net he caught me with in the first place...'_

For a while, the battle went back and forth like a game of table tennis. Mangeli attacked, and Winry retaliated. Back and forth, back and forth, neither landing any really disabling blows.

But Winry had a strategy. Each attack brought her closer to him, and when she judged she was close enough, she lunged.

Again, she tried to yank the Daemon from him. But this time, she encountered a resistance that she hadn't found in Father...as though Mangeli was physically holding the Daemon in his body.

Mangeli smirked at her bewildered expression. "Surprised?"

He grabbed her by the shoulders, and hurled her away. Winry rolled as she struck the ground, but Mangeli was on top of her, seizing her wings in his hands, twisting and tugging as though determined to rip them from her body.

Winry howled in agony as her bones splintered beneath his cruel grip. Realising she had to throw him off her before he literally tore her wings out, Winry reached back with hands that smoked with white fire.

She grabbed the first thing she could – Mangeli's face and neck – and held.

Mangeli screamed, releasing her wings as he scrambled backwards, desperate to get away from the pain. Winry spun around, ignoring the harsh grating in her wings as the joints realigned and repaired themselves, and she leapt on top of him, using her weight – rather considerable when she metaled-up – to drive him into the ground.

And in an instant, a flash of inspiration hit Winry. Her white fire seemed to barely damage Mangeli – it didn't cause him the same pain it had Father, at least. He had probably learned to manipulate the black shadow to partly shield himself from those kind of attacks. But when she threw him into the ground, it seemed to work better.

So as Mangeli staggered to his feet, Winry rushed again.

But this time, when she enveloped him in a bear hug, she took care to pin his arms to his sides. Her wings opened, and began to beat rhythmically.

Slowly, she and Mangeli rose above the battlefield. He fought against her arms, but with his pinned, there was precious little he could do. He bellowed his frustration, arching his back and fighting her hold like a wild horse, his black shadow scorching her flesh like acid.

And still, Winry clung on grimly. And still, her wings beat steadily, carrying them higher and higher.

Winry could see the panic in Mangeli's eyes. _'Beginning to catch on? A fall from this height will snap every bone in your body, stunning you, and leaving you open for that moment when I rip the Daemon from your body.'_

They rose higher and higher, the muscles straining under Winry's steel skin as she fought to rise higher still.

Finally, when she could rise no further, Winry folded her wings, angled to the ground, and dropped.


	25. March 21st, 1917

**Chapter 25**

**March 21st**

_March 21st – Mangeli's Laboratory, White Mountain_

They plunged together, locked in a deadly embrace, Winry deliberately holding Mangeli's head down, ensuring he would hit the ground first.

The wind stung her skin, and her ears popped as they plummeted. Sky and clouds rushed past in a dizzying whirlwind.

The ground was speeding towards them, and Winry took care to keep a tight hold on Mangeli, in spite of the black shadow he threw at her face that burned her cheeks, her lips, her eyes...she ignored the way he clawed at her arms and shoulders, leaving searing wounds as his black shadow ate away at the metal of her skin.

Winry would not be deterred. She held her grip, shoving Mangeli's head downwards to met the ground as it shot towards them.

Winry felt Mangeli impact the unyielding rock, muscle and bone crumpling beneath her like tissue paper. She hit a second later, an earth-shaking thud that sent pain screaming throughout her body. The whole mountain trembled with the force of their joint impact, as though about to crumble.

"Winry!"

Winry heard the desperation in Ed's voice and struggled to her feet, limping slightly as her body strove to heal the damage dealt to it by the shattering fall. She could feel her joints trying to re-align, her bones trying to knit, her twisted tendons striving to right themselves...

But Mangeli was unconscious on the ground, in the middle of the crater their plunge had created. It was now or never.

Winry reached down, teeth gritted against the pain flaring with every movement, grabbing Mangeli by the shoulders, eyes narrowing as she fought against the mysterious pull that anchored the Daemon in his body. His hold on the Daemon was far tighter than Father's had ever been.

When his eyes snapped open, Winry almost shrieked in utter shock.

"You idiot!" he hissed, grasping her arms and squeezing until the bones creaked. "The Daemon's in me to stay – only the presence of the Gate can hope to dislodge it!"

Mangeli's black fire snaked from his palms, and Winry screamed as the flesh on her arms began to melt away like butter in a hot sun. She sent her white fire blasting out from her own hands, and Mangeli was sent reeling away as though shot from a cannon.

_'Only the presence of the Gate can dislodge it,'_ she told herself. _'What did he do to himself? And how could he have done it? How can I undo it? How can I dislodge the Daemon from his body?'_

And then it occurred to Winry that Mangeli himself had told her how she could defeat him. She just needed the presence of the Gate.

Winry dragged in a deep breath, trying to prepare herself for what she about to do. But her plans went out the window when Mangeli suddenly spun away from her, black shadow gathering between his fingers, aimed at...

Aimed directly at all her friends. Somehow, during the fight, the chimeras had herded them into a single group...a group Mangeli could fell with one blow. And she'd bet it had been done so subtly that no one had the slightest idea they were about to be blown to smithereens. Mangeli probably reasoned that once her friends were dead, they couldn't tie up the chimeras in battle, and they would be free to pull her down.

But Winry didn't think about that then. She opened her wings, hurling herself skywards and leaping in front of her friends, just as Mangeli fired his lethal blow.

Winry opened her wings, summoning her white fire in a last ditch effort to shield the people behind her. The milky flames wrapped her body before shooting out to permeate the air, growing outwards and upwards until they formed a wall between her friends and Mangeli.

The black shadow impacted the wall, and was neutralised in an instant.

The chimeras closed on her, but even as they were beaten back by the others, Winry found herself encircled by vicious talons and fangs.

She reacted on pure instinct. Her eyes flared, her hand touched the ground...and the flash and crackle of alchemy filled the air.

Her alchemy snaked across the ground like a shockwave, white sparks of light lancing into every chimera in the vicinity. Winry's alchemy deconstructed them, rendering them apart like tissue paper in a whirlwind.

_'Wish I'd known I could do that beforehand...'_

But as the flashes of light died, exhaustion seeped into every bone of Winry's body, the alchemy draining her of her energy like a hose draining water. She staggered, falling to her knees as she struggled to face Mangeli. But she knew, in her heart, she didn't have the energy to fight him...not now.

Her eyes closed, but not in defeat. They shut in deep concentration, as she reached deep inside herself to touch the tiny seed of the Gate that lay planted deep within her. She touched it, she released it...

And the Gate opened _through_ Winry.

A typhoon of white light engulfed her and Mangeli. Everyone back away, but Ed, Al and Earnest ran forward, desperate to help her. The bright light consumed them.

Then suddenly, all five were somewhere Else.

**oooooooo**

_March 21st – Location Unknown _

Ed and Al gasped as the Gate towered above them, the sight of the looming doors dredging up memories best left forgotten.

But it was Mangeli's scream that commanded their full attention.

"_NO!_" the man shrieked, trying to scramble away. "_NO!_"

But Winry caught him. "Yes," she hissed grimly, reaching into his soul and ripping the Daemon from him. As with Father, she took care to remove the part of his essence that gave him the ability to perform alchemy as well.

"Yes," she whispered, panting heavily as she stared at the broken man kneeling before her.

"Now go!" Winry shoved him, and Mangeli disappeared in mid-air, thrown back to the physical world.

Ed opened his mouth to ask why they were here, but he was cut off when Winry threw her head back and bellowed, "_TRUTH!_"

Ed and Al were frozen in place. How could Winry have known about Truth?

"Truth!" she yelled again. "We had a bargain, and I've fulfilled my part! Show yourself!"

"_But I've been here all along."_

Winry went stiff, as did Ed and Al. Slowly, they turned...

To see Earnest grinning broadly at them. That eerie grin that was so chillingly familiar...

Before their eyes, Earnest's form unraveled, his flesh peeling away to reveal the glittering form of Truth beneath it.

Ed and Al stared blankly, unable to wrap their minds around the concept. But Winry's eyes closed, her jaw clenched, and her throat flexed as she swallowed. She remembered what Truth had told her the first time they met.

_'I am capable of manifesting in the physical realm, but only if I have a human's limbs to anchor myself to...'_

She remembered the arm and leg 'Earnest' had possessed, so much darker than his other limbs...

"You used Ed's limbs, didn't you?" Winry said, her voice cold.

Truth nodded. _"I thought something familiar might help jog your memory."_

"Was there ever a real Earnest?" Winry asked, her eyes unreadable.

"_Of course not,"_ Truth snorted. _"Mangeli has never sired offspring in his life."_

That certainly explained why there had never been any record of Mangeli having a son, why Mangeli had shown no recognition upon capturing 'Earnest', why 'Earnest' had never been overly distressed by her battle against Mangeli...any emotion of 'Earnest's' part had been false – a charade to make Truth's mask more believable.

Some part of Winry was deeply angered by that.

"But why didn't I sense you? I could sense Mangeli, and the others...but why not you?"

"_I gave you your powers,"_ Truth pointed out. _"It was easy to hide myself from them – I made sure there was never the slightest chance of you sensing me."_

"You were following me from the start," Winry hissed, rage beginning to bubble through her veins.

Rage at Truth, for playing her so well, and even at herself, for not suspecting something was wrong with 'Earnest'. Winry's mind was mentally reviewing every fact about 'Earnest', every fact that should have tipped her off.

His pale skin, so reminiscent of the pale light that made up his true form. The darkened skin of his right arm and left leg – just like when they first 'met' and he used Ed's limbs. His incredible knowledge about her powers. His strange, familiar grin. Even his name, Earnest, literally meant 'truth'.

"_I was with you from the start,"_ Truth agreed, grinning. _"Couldn't have my angel going untutored, could I? I was the one who told you about your powers, I was the one who persuaded you to go after Mangeli's supporters instead of him...to give you time to learn those powers. And it was I who suggested the occupation of automail mechanic to Jade."_

Winry snorted bitterly. "Yeah, my memory loss must have really screwed your little plan up, huh?"

"_On the contrary – it was I who caused it in the first place."_

"What?" Winry was incredulous. "_You_ made me lose my memories?"

"_I had to,"_ Truth snarled, as though it was utterly tired of Winry second-guessing it. _"If I had left your memories intact, you would have gone straight to those two-"_ it pointed to Ed and Al. _"You needed time to grow, to strengthen, to know what you were capable of. If you hadn't been Angel, would you have done what you did? Maybe so, but that time as Angel gave you the one thing you were lacking...confidence! Not in your abilities...in yourself!"_

Winry shook her head, not wanting to admit Truth might actually have a point. "What about our bargain?"

Finally, Ed's vocal chords obeyed him. "What bargain?" He felt embarrassed by the slightly hysterical note in his voice.

Truth turned it's gaze on him. At least, Ed assumed that it had a gaze – no eyes could be distinguished from the mass of light that was it's body.

"_It was agreed that she would track down those who had violated my creed – those who had stolen a Daemon from me-"_

Ed's mind flashed back to Mangeli's notes, what the man had written about the 'Gate Daemons'.

"_-and she would take the Daemons back. She would return them to me."_

"And in return?" Al asked, summoning his courage. "Winry wouldn't have helped you for nothing."

Truth raised it's hand, and the doors flew open. Ed and Al cringed, but the black arms of the  
Gate didn't reach for them. Instead, voices drifted out.

"_...what do you want in exchange?"_

"The return of Alphonse Elric's body, and Edward Elric's limbs."

Ed and Al jerked, turning their eyes to Winry as they gaped at her. Ed was in shock. To think that Winry had gone through all this for them...

But the echoes continued, and all Ed's attention went to the conversation being played back for them.

"_No. You ask too much – you cannot have both."_

"That's a pretty tall order, considering what I'm doing for you."

"_With the seed of the Gate inside you, you will hardly find it difficult."_

"Okay, I'm willing to concede on this point. Just Alphonse's body, then."

"_Deal."_

The voices died.

"Winry..." Al whispered. "All this...for my body?"

Winry gave a sheepish grin.

"_You have indeed fulfilled your bargain."_ If possible, Truth's grin grew wider. _"Now I must take back what's mine, the Daemons...and the gift I gave you."_

"She doesn't have anything of yours!" Ed snapped, his protective instincts rushing to the fore.

"Truth gave me a seed of the Gate," Winry explained, extending her hand to the being. "The telepathy, the healing rate, the 'lie-detector', the white fire, the ability to sense Daemons, the ability to disregard Equivalent Exchange...that's all from Truth. You can have them," she addressed Truth. "They make me kind of nervous."

Truth reached for Winry's proffered hand, but she suddenly snatched it away. "Wait! Al's body first, then I'll surrender the Daemons and the seed of the Gate."

Truth scowled, but waved it's hand again. Al's body appeared, looking as Ed had last seen it – malnourished and barely alive.

"That's me?" Al yelped, at the same time Winry rounded on Truth.

"You put him right this instant!"

"_Without a soul in it, the body inevitably falls into decay,"_ Truth shrugged.

"Put Al right or the deal's off," Winry snarled. "I mean it – Al can't go into that body, not in that state!"

"_You demand much for mere mortal girl,"_ Truth huffed imperiously.

"This 'mere mortal girl' spent over six months running across all of Amestris doing your dirty work!" Winry snapped. "Now do it!"

Truth's lips curled, but with another wave of it's hand, Al's body was restored to a more healthy-looking state.

At the same time, Al's armour fell to the 'ground' in a loud clatter of metal...empty, inanimate. Ed yelled, but then the body was stirring. Al's eyes closed, then opened in a slow blink. He looked down at himself...and shrieked.

"My body! Brother...my body!"

Al's grin nearly split his face in half, and Ed was sure his face was a mirror of his brother's. He pulled off his red coat, wrapping it around Al's shoulders.

Winry smiled.

"_Now your part,"_ Truth snapped.

Winry grinned as she extended her hand. Truth didn't like anyone having any kind of hold over it. It didn't like the fact she could make demands on it.

Truth grasped Winry's hand, and as before, Winry felt a tiny shock pass through her system. Except this time, it was not anything entering her body...it was the Daemons and the seed of the Gate leaving it.

Suddenly tired, Winry staggered slightly, only to feel strong arms grip her from either side, supporting her.

"Winry..." Al swallowed, blinking back tears in his eyes. "Winry...how can we ever...?"

"Happy birthday, Al," she smiled.

"You mean...this is..."

"Your birthday present," Winry nodded. "I'm a cheapskate...but I hope you like it."

Al let out a disbelieving laugh, sounding almost hysterical. But then Winry supposed she'd be hysterical too, if she'd been trapped in armour for years, unable to touch or smell or taste, and then was finally placed back in a human body.

"Your present too, by the way," Winry told Ed. "The end of your quest...or maybe not. I did try to get your limbs, but..."

"_You can always trade some of your own limbs,"_ Truth pointed out. _"Two limbs for two limbs."_

"Hmmm..." Winry eyed her wings. "That's not such a bad idea..."

"Don't, Winry," Ed said firmly. But inwardly, he was reeling. He found it frankly astonishing that she would be willing to sacrifice so much for them. "Don't make any more bargains with it. Not for me – your automail's fine."

"Oh." Winry smiled. "I'm glad. I've gotten to like my wings, you know?"

"_If you're quite finished..."_ Truth said, disdain clear in it's voice.

The next thing they knew, they were back in the physical world.

**oooooooo**

_March 21st – Remnants of Mangeli's Laboratory, White Mountain_

"What happened?" Jade cried out, running to the group huddled before her. "You just disappeared...where's Earnest, and...oh-"

She had just spotted the strange man dressed in Ed's red coat. Al laughed as he rose to his feet, looking around at the assembled crowd, grinning his head off.

"Hey," he greeted. "I'm Al."

"_What?_"

There was an explosion of questions, and an exhausted Winry held up her hand to stem the flow. "People, people, take it easy! Everything will be explained later...Earnest, Al's body...everything."

She sighed heavily, wishing for nothing more than nice, comfortable bed, and about fifty hours of uninterrupted sleep.

She looked around, thankful that no one seemed seriously injured. There were a few nicks here and there...Mustang had a deep gash down his side, but it was already being tended to by Hawkeye. And from the looks they were exchanging, Winry had a pretty good idea where their relationship was at the moment.

Breda, Havoc, Fuery and Falman were sitting to one side, watching with the new couple with identical expressions on their faces. Expressions that practically screamed, _'We saw this coming a mile away!'_.

And Mangeli was in handcuffs, cowering beside the military people.

"Let's get home," Ed muttered, helping Winry to her feet. We've been on this mountain for three days!"

"We have?" Winry made a mental tally. "You're right, we have...huh..."

Suddenly, Winry burst out laughing.

"What's so funny about it?" Ed asked, clearly bemused by the blonde girl's chuckles.

"I've just remembered something," Winry whispered when her giggles ceased.

Ed was taken off guard when she kissed him – a kiss full of passion and joy and excitement – but he soon recovered and returned it eagerly.

Winry broke the kiss, but didn't withdraw from his embrace, leaning her head aginst his chest.

One year. One year in all her seventeen – no, eighteen – years of life…and it had brought more changes than all the rest put together. She'd lost a home and gained a following. She'd been robbed of her memories and been gifted extraordinary powers. She'd been a victimised lab rat and an angelic messiah, a helpless prisoner and a crusader. She'd crawled through sewers and flown higher than the clouds. She'd sounded the depths of her soul and found the shining secrets of herself...reached deep inside to find a strength she'd never suspected she posessed.

And she'd found a happiness she never thought she'd reach.

"I love you, Ed," Winry whispered.

Ed grinned. "Love you, too." Whatever she'd remembered, it had obviously put her in a very good mood.

"What _did_ you remember?" Ed asked, his arms still tight around her, tangled in the feathers of her wings.

Winry smiled. A smile born of irrepressible happiness and complete contentment.

"It's my birthday."

**End.**

**oooooooo**

_AN: And so it ends. I'm sorry if you want a squel, or another chapter, folks, but this is where it stops. Angel was always designed to end exactly one year from its beginning, and was always destined to end with the same line it began with – Winry proclaiming it's her birthday. And in case anyone's curious...Winry was always going to keep her wings, but lose the most extreme of her powers. And Earnest was always going to be Truth in disguise, his name is German in origin, and really does mean truth (I think several people picked upon my tiny hints at Earnest's identity, and if you did, give yourself a pat on the back. If you didn't, don't worry about it, I was absolutely paranoid about making it too obvious, and so downplayed any hints as much as possible)._

_And of course, thanks to all who reviewed, with special mention going to LaughingAstarael, who beta-ed a couple of chapters I was worried about._


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